Restoration work continues here at Three Acres Plantation, nestled in the heart of Tom Cat Ridge; just like the work still going on at Poplar Forest, home of President Thomas Jefferson. The third president was the great patron of both his namesake President Jefferson Davis, as well as his neighbor - Libertarian, Confederate historian, artist, teacher, author, poet, documentary film maker, motion picture producer, and entrepreneur George Roland Wills. Both the Bedford and Roanoke public libraries still house his original documentaries and other films. Three Acres is owned by the Gallery513 foundation, and is not a day's ride from Poplar Forest, to the west of there, also in the County of Bedford, establish 1754 by the Fourth Duke of Bedford. Both plantations have been receiving extensive work in the last few years, and the manor house of Three Acres is now beginning to take shape nicely.
All original details are being used to restore the great house to its original lustre and charm. No expense has been spared to make this restoration as close to period as possible. The T-111 siding, so popular in the day, has been acquired, as well as that particular shade of mixed Elephant Walk Valspar Gray, which graced the home back in the day.
Even the design in the chair railing is correct to Three Acres Plantation, and was replicated using the most modern means. The bevelled slope at the top of the chair railing was a design selected by George's personal builders, originally, for the dwelling.
The home is being restore circa 2011-2012, at a time when George was known to have owned the plantation home and all the surrounding buildings. His powerful antique motorcar, still operational, resides in the main garage. It is the famous 1992 LX 5.0 Mustang, originally titled to George in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1993.
The North Wing was first to undergo extensive repairs along the base of the manor, and all such lower level work will be completed before the scaffolding will be brought in to effect painting of the upper outside walls.
The south wing belvedere had been marred by the presence of a modern piece of relocation equipment, which had been left attached to the home some time ago. This was removed, and the wall restored as shown here, to its original look from 2011, or thereabouts. Modern historians all agree that it would have looked this way as early as October 2011, and the great metal support was in no wise period to the home, at all. Below we see the completed renovation which removed the unsightly construction "tongue", or moving assist from the manor.
A new railing is planned for the porch, shown here without one. The earliest architectural renderings for the manor home show such a railing along its great front porch, and so this restoration will also be done to period specs.
It is generally well-known that this great manor home produced a number of the original works of art for which George was known. He would go on to plan the Gallery513 School of Art & Portraiture Institute, just as Thomas Jefferson had created the University of Virginia. All of the original works of art are now on permanent display in the special collections department of the Institute, known as the Graphite Gallery, on the second floor of the main administration building, on the south lawn of the Institute.
Originally, George planned to build the Institute in Bedford County, in the exact location where the ancient Lowes once stood. However, having lived in, and loved, Botetourt County, he eventually planned to put the Institute in its present location just outside of Roanoke, Virginia; his birth place. George had great plans for this Institute, from the very beginning. It was to be a pencil portraiture drawing school, a fine arts painting school, with classes in sculpture, clay modeling, glass blowing, and other disciplines. The Institute was also to house a competition FIDE rated chess school, and tournament building, a great theatre for both live stage performances, and first-run motion pictures, as well as a nationally-accredited school for acting and the dramatic arts, a film making school, a technical training school for the use and operation of all Apple products, a foreign language arts school and the nation's first Lifeguard Training Academy, to be taught in the 360,000 gallon indoor/outdoor pool built on property for the use and convenience of the student body.
"I was always impressed with the simplicity of my heroes, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, "George wrote in his memoirs, "These men did so much in their lives, as the archetype Renaissance Men that they were... and yet, all Benjamin Frankin wished to have upon his tombstone was Ben Franklin, Printer. He really thought that he had done his most important work in that capacity. I think that speaks to all of us, in a way. And in keeping with that sentiment, I would like to be remembered for my most important contribution, as well.
George Roland Wills; Lifeguard."
