Sponsor: The Augusta Garden Club

Tickets: $25; ages 6-12, half-price

Info: (540) 886-5071; www.VAGardenweek.org

Staunton, located in the western Shenandoah Valley, was settled by German, English and Scotch-Irish immigrants who established farms in the rich soil.Today, downtown Staunton features antiques shops, craft and specialty shops in a Victorian setting. The "City of Woodland Gardens" welcomes visitors to historic sites.

Tour highlights:

Built in 1921, the Georgian Revival house at 1717 N. Augusta St. (Dr. and Mrs. James Huggins, owners) originally was situated in an apple orchard. Soft, inviting colors inside provide a backdrop for a house filled with family antiques, collectibles and needlework. Crown molding, inlaid wooden floors and a wide, winding staircase are original features.

The newly renovated carriage house contains a blueand-white kitchen and is filled with English and American antiques. Boxwood, dogwood trees, perennial beds, spring bulbs and colorful annuals accent the yard.

On the crest of a hill, 158 Woodland Drive (Mr. and Mrs. P. William Moore Jr., owners) was built in 1955. The house features generous-sized rooms and large windows that overlook well-groomed gardens.

The terraced backyard is shaded by mature trees, and the lawn to the east is lined on one side with English boxwood and contains a fishpond, accessed by stepping stones. A stone retaining wall is topped with a hemlock hedge and bordered by peony bushes and Queen Elizabeth roses.

The 1950s Colonial Revival brick house at 123 Woodland Drive (Mr. and Mrs. William Chapman Goodwin, owners) showcases numerous Christmas collectibles, many by Yorktown artist Nancy Thomas. The main house features a large sunken living room, study, dining room, den and newly modernized kitchen.

The garage has a two-story Colonial Williamsburg-style guesthouse with century-old heart pine flooring and a cozy bedroom and bath upstairs.

Built in 1953, the two-story brick home at 326 Greenway Road (Dr. and Mrs. Robert M. Driscoll, owners) offers views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Perennial beds bring color to the yard and boxwood hedges have been situated to provide privacy. Stonework for the fireplace in the den was crafted by masons who worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Inspired by a house in California, the custom-built house at 113 Oak Terrace (Mr. and Mrs. Edwin B. Brown, owners) was completed in 2002. The exterior is a composition of colored concrete blocks and bricks, reminiscent of the Art Moderne style of the late-1940s, with a touch of Frank Lloyd Wright.

A semicircular view wall was designed to capture wintertime views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

See the terraced boxwood gardens behind the manse at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at his birthplace, 18-24 N. Coalter St. The gardens were designed by landscape architect Charles F. Gillette. Virginia-born Wilson was the nation's 28th president.