Sponsor: Dolley Madison Garden Club

Tickets: $25; single-site, $10; ages 6-12, half-price

Info: (540) 672-1053; www.VAGardenweek.org

Lunches: Boxed; $12; 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Montpelier Visitor Center. Reservations by April 14.

Info: Elmwood at Sparks, 124 Main St., Orange; (540) 672-0060; info@elmwoodcatering.com

Orange County will forever be associated with fourth U.S. President James Madison and his wife, Dolley. Madison is remembered as the Father of the Constitution. Montpelier, his country estate, is being restored to resemble the 1820 home of the Madisons.

Tour highlights:

At the Annie duPont Formal Garden At Montpelier, Orange (National Trust for Historic Preservation, Owner), the formal garden was designed by Mr. Bizet, a French gardener who was hired by James Madison. Bizet's design consisted of horseshoe-shape terraces that were carved in a hillside and filled with fruits, vegetables, roses and varieties of 19th-century flowers.

William duPont purchased Montpelier in 1901, and his wife, Annie, restored 2 acres of the landscape into a formal garden.

Bassett House, Montpelier Station (Carolyn and Michael C. Quinn, resiDents), was built in the 1930s for Carroll K. Bassett, Marion duPont Scott's steeplechase jockey and trainer. The seven-room clapboard house was assembled on site from a "kit" produced by E.F. Hodgson Co. of Boston. In the 1950s, Charles F. Gillette designed an informal cottage garden, and a half-acre Oriental garden nearby was designed by Bassett and Marion Scott with help from Gillette.

Gaston Hall, Montpelier Station (Mr. and Mrs. Steven D. Brooks, owners), was built for George Zinn Jr., the son of William and Annie duPont. Completed in 1909, the house has a 2½-story central block with a classical portico and is flanked by symmetrical one-story wings. The wings now serve as a library and kitchen, and the house is furnished with a collection of Old Master paintings and 18th-century furnishings.

Oakley, Montpelier Station (Mr. and Mrs. J. Ridgely Porter III, owners) is a Greek Revival home, constructed in 1843 by Dr. Robert Thomas, a prominent Orange County physician. The present owners spent four years rebuilding the house to retain its historical integrity. The four-square house maintains its original floors, staircase with walnut banister rail and pine treads.

Windrock, Somerset (Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Harvey, owners), is a stone and stucco contemporary home. Overall landscaping was designed by landscape architect John James, and informal flower beds boast more than 2,000 bulbs planted for this year's Garden Week. An elliptical two-story library is the main architectural feature, with cherry bookcases and paneling that surround a stone fireplace. ?Virginia is home to more than 100 wineries. For info, visit www.virginiawines.org.