Visit the peaceful grounds of the Hermitage Museum and Gardens and get a history lesson, an art education and a botanical experience all at once. The former home of the Sloane family, this early 20th-century, arts-and-crafts-style house museum contains a nationally recognized art collection that covers five millennia. Wander the contemporary exhibition galleries, the visual arts studio, the working artist studios and acres of formal gardens, natural woodlands and wetlands.
Explore the mansion’s 42 rooms, which house the celebrated Sloane Collection. More than 5,000 objects representing more than 30 countries include fine and decorative art pieces. Florence K. Sloane assembled the collection over 50 years and it remains almost entirely intact. See Chinese Neolithic jade, beautifully carved snuff bottles and bronze vessels from the Western Zhou dynasty. Admire paintings by Charles Hawthorne, Helen Turner and other contemporary artists.
Ms. Sloane had a love of textiles, partly because her husband owned textile manufacturing sites in the early 1900s. See the large collection of textiles, from Egyptian Coptic tapestries to 20th-century Spanish lace.
Outside, stroll through 12 acres (5 hectares) of formal gardens, forest and wetlands on a peninsula in the Lafayette River. Try to identify some of the hundreds of plants and animals, including waterfowl and migrating birds, that make their habitat here. Wander the Rose Garden, the Children’s Garden and the Grotto, with its charming cherub and dolphin fountain.
Take special note of Ms. Sloane’s Millstone Courtyard, where pieces of stone from past centuries are now considered works of art. The millstones were collected from mills in five different states 105 are scattered across the museum property.
To see more of Ms. Sloane’s collection, visit the Chrysler Museum, formerly the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, which holds thousands of additional objects from around the globe.
Find the Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk’s Lochhaven neighborhood between the Norfolk Naval Base and Old Dominion University. Visit the museum Tuesday through Sunday, during business hours. There is an admission fee for adults ask for discounts for children. Tours with a docent are available for an extra fee.
