The Agecroft Association

Elizabeth’s Legacy

Elizabeth lived in the house for 40 years, marrying Dr. David Morton in 1930, and carefully planned the landscape surrounding the manor in partnership with Charles Gillette, the highly regarded landscape architect. Their collaboration resulted in the terraces and sunken garden, inspired by designs at Hampton Court Place. The trails that wind along the river’s edge are a testament to her continued love of outdoor spaces. The museum reopened her trails in 2022, thanks to the dedication of our garden staff and volunteer hours from a local Boy Scout troop.

Becoming a Museum

Agecroft was always intended to be a museum following its life as a private residence in Richmond, as outlined in T.C.’s will. Elizabeth left in 1967 and the manor home opened to the public on July 5th, 1969. T.C. and Elizabeth originally planned for the rooms to become the galleries of an art museum, but Elizabeth switched course after the founding of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in 1934. Instead, her home has become a site to tell stories of its English past – with her 20th century library preserved as she wanted – and over 500 years of history from England to Virginia within these walls.