Shenandoah Garden Club member Jobeth Friend gives a tour of Linden Spring Farm’s house to Emily Schlesinger, of Bolivar, on Sunday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Bolivar resident Emily Schlesinger followed Shenandoah Garden Club member Jobeth Friend around the room, as Friend shared information about the items of historical significance in the dining room of Linden Spring Farm’s house on Sunday afternoon. The house, which dates back to 1780, was one of six featured in the Shenandoah-Potomac Garden Council’s 66th Annual House and Garden Tour this past weekend.

For Schlesinger, after attending the tour for the first time last year, she became hooked.

“This is my second year on this tour!” Schlesinger said. “My friend, Judy, sold me tickets. I was planning to bring my godmother and mother-in-law with me this year, but it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”

A total of 741 people visited Linden Spring Farm on this year’s tour — a similar number to that of previous years, in spite of rain on Saturday. Those in attendance enjoyed the guided tour of the house, paired with a variety of homemade refreshments and fruit-infused water. Many then took the time to wander around the rest of the farm’s property, featuring Westvirjeni’s custom floral design studio, a bubbling brook and verdant meadows.

For Linden Spring Farm owners Kevin and Jeni Walker, allowing their home be displayed to the public on this year’s tour proved to be a win-win scenario. A great deal of research into the history of the home was conducted by the Shenandoah Garden Club and collected from tour attendees with family connections to the farm, which the Walkers saved for future reference. And knowing that the tour proceeds will be used by the Shenandoah-Potomac Garden Council’s eight Federated garden clubs for their community service gardening projects, made any inconvenience caused by the tour worthwhile.

An attendee of the 66th Annual House and Garden Tour wanders around the Linden Spring Farm house, which dates back to 1780, on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

“I couldn’t believe how many people came! It’s been great to be able to share our home,” Jeni said, noting they purchased the house from Bob and Martha Putz, who began a major renovation of the house in 1970. “When we bought this place, we told the previous owners, ‘We’re just caretakers of this for a certain amount of time.’ We just want to make sure this is preserved and not developed. Hopefully, we will be able to pass this on to somebody else who wants to do the same thing we do, so that in another hundred years, maybe this will still be preserved!”

According to Jeni, the Shenandoah Garden Club did the bulk of the work, with staging the home and planning out how to deal with the crowds of attendees, which was a nice break from the norm for the event planner and floral designer.

“It was nice, because we’re usually to doing events, where we’re the ones having to take care of everything,” Jeni said. “This time, we just had to take care of the property, and they did the rest!”

Over at the tour’s other location in Shepherdstown at the Thomas Shepherd Grist Mill, which dates back to the year 1738, a similar high attendance record was reported by the Windflower Garden Club. One of the attractions unique to this home on the tour, was its functioning water wheel, which had been turned on just for the tour’s visitors to enjoy over the weekend.

“It’s a rare event! And this is supposedly the the biggest wheel — one of two — in the whole country,” said James di Donato, of Gerrardstown, of the 40-foot-tall Fitz Steel Overshot Water Wheel.

A barred owl hoots at passersby throughout the day, during the 66th Annual House and Garden Tour at Linden Spring Farm on Sunday. Tabitha Johnston

Windflower Garden Club members Nancy Marcum and Ann Workman co-chaired the staging and organization of the Thomas Shepherd Grist Mill for the tour.

“It’s been a steady flow of attendees,” Workman said. “Yesterday was exceptionally high attendance, considering the rain, but since this is a private home, it is a location that many people wouldn’t ordinarily be able to see!”

Attendees of the 66th Annual House and Garden Tour relax in a meadow at Linden Spring Farm on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

A small sitting room welcomes visitors into Linden Spring Farm’s house, during the 66th Annual House and Garden Tour on Sunday. Tabitha Johnston