Plein air artists Jan Finn-Duffy and Kim Williams, from left, capture the beauty of the North River while guests walk the grounds of Blythelea, one of three homes open to the public on Saturday for this year’s Historic Garden Week tour, hosted by the Garden Club of Gloucester and Mathews. Other homes on this year’s tour were neighboring Exchange and, on the banks of the York River, Holly Knoll, a home that carries on the legacy of the second president of the Tuskegee Institute, Dr. Robert Moton.

This year’s Gloucester-Mathews Historic Garden Week tour honored homes on two of the area’s preeminent rivers, with homes on the banks of the North and York rivers open to visitors on Saturday. Above, hostess Carol Nyce, left, welcomes Garden Week attendees to the entryway of Holly Knoll, telling them some of the features of the second floor of the historic home on the banks of the York River. Below, hostess Pam Hatten, at right, shares some of the secrets of the formal dining room of the Nor...