House & Garden Tour - July 11, 2024
Please click below to get your tickets and join us for our 2024 House & Garden Tour! These tours began in 1954 and offer the chance to explore private homes and gardens of Chautauqua - led by a BTG Docent.
The House & Garden Tour is the BTG’s primary fundraiser. Each season the BTG offers more than 100 free events including lectures and guided nature walks and other programs in support of our mission to educate and advocate for the environment. The BTG is a 501C3 charity, independent from Chautauqua Institution. Thank you for your support.
Click below to go to our store and order your tickets!
Click below to download a PDF copy of the order form
Support the 2024 BTG House & Garden Tour by becoming a member of the 2024 Henrietta Ord Jones Society. Because the $155 sponsorship donation to the BTG includes a ticket to the 2024 House & Garden Tour, $100 is tax-deductible.
CLICK HERE to learn more about this option and
The Henrietta Ord Jones Society
Get excited for our 2024 House & Garden Tour - please scroll through to take a peek at some of the kitchens ~ the heart of the home, as well as some highlights from previous years.
To help plan your day, here is a suggested schedule:
8:00 am: Check in at the BTG Table. Check-in is open until 12:30pm. Here you can pick up maps, purchase the Chautauquan Daily newspaper, or your ticket booklet if it was not mailed to you.
9:30 am: Join us for a lecture at Smith Wilkes Hall, the home of the BTG
10:45 am: Attend the morning lecture in the Chautauqua Amphitheater. Check chq.org for details.
12:00 - 5:00 pm: Home interiors open to ticket holders for docent-led tours. Each home is unique in its history, decor, and style. Master Gardeners and garden docents will be stationed at the seven gardens on tour from 12-5 pm as well. Complimentary water and light refreshments will be available in Smith Wilkes Hall throughout the afternoon.
5:00 - 8:00 pm: Attend any of the Chautauqua programming or wander the grounds and enjoy dinner.
Please enjoy some highlights from our 2022 tour below!
On July 14, 2022, the BTG welcomed tour patrons to the long-awaited biennial House & Garden Tour, postponed twice due to the pandemic. A total of 12 Chautauqua homes were open for the tour - each home unique in style, decor, and history - including the Miller Edison Cottage and current President’s Cottage. Fabulous gardens were on display across the tour route, each with a member of the Chautauqua Master County program out of Cornell Cooperative Extension. The day also included an Opera Invasion and refreshment tents and Swedish cookies in Miller Park. Mother Nature contributed with a 74-degree day, a cool breeze, and plenty of sunshine. Landscape Preservation Architect Bob Jeffrey started the week with a talk about architecture at Chautauqua, previewing each home and offering commentary. Thank you to all the volunteers, homeowners, and Institution Staff for their generous support. Our landscape and garden teams had every garden glowing.
The bucolic setting and picturesque gardens at Chautauqua Institution are managed by Betsy Burgeson, Supervisor of Landscapes & Garden. Her team has been preparing for this tour for years! Betsy Burgeson started the Tour Day by presenting a lecture about the Ellen Biddle Shipman garden at the Miller Edison Cottage. The crews were applauded with vigor by all the tour patrons in the audience for their hard work and accomplishment. Prior to Tour Day, no detail was overlooked. The crew harvested flowers created into bouquets for homeowners, delivered by BTG President Leslie Renjilian. Our partners, Chautauqua County Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension volunteered as docents at green spaces along the tour route. Purchase a packet of note cards - each arrangement comprised of the flowers from a particular garden! You can still pick up a map of the Institution's gardens at the Main Gate, Visitor Center, or this website on the Gardens tab. Even better - take a stroll throughout the grounds by accessing BTG’s FREE tour app: ExploreCHQ.stqry.App