Inside the 1905 Georgian Revival of Rosa Morgan and Ed Gearke
By: Megan Williams / Photos by: Ashlee Glen
If I do have a philosophy, it is best expressed by Henry David Thoreau: ‘If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.’ That is my credo. It is absolutely true. It is my whole life summed up.” – Tasha Tudor
Rosa Morgan and Ed Gearke move with intention throughout their home. A 1905 Georgian Revival in the historic Diamond Hill district, the brick house on a hill is a time capsule in and of itself. The looming Doric columns, original slate roof, and six over nine double hung windows greet passersby and invite them to pause—to take in the symmetry and order of the facade that rises well above street level. Those acquainted with the owners of the home, however, who are invited to peer around the corners into the verdant gardens or cross under the columned portico and through the wide front door, would see a different type of order—one that is tethered to ease, curiosity, and the rhythms of the natural world.
“Many years ago, I’d visited Monticello and Mount Vernon and was taken with the natural beauty of the state,” Morgan recalled. “We had never even been to Lynchburg, but we shipped all our earthly possessions here because it was centrally located. Of course, I’d researched it as a possible city to live in because we loved its history, architecture, and the four seasons—something you don’t get in Texas.”
Morgan and Gearke moved into the home on Madison Street in 2022 and immediately set to work, transforming the historic house into a space that supported their creative endeavors. Morgan is a writer, who has published two historical fiction novels and is currently working on a third.
Gearke is a pastel artist and historian.
“Together, we create miniature houses; so far a Georgian, Tudor, Victorian, and a castle,” Morgan said. “Last Christmas, our house was on the Diamond Hill holiday tour, where we had a miniature house displayed in each room.”
On the first day in their new home, Morgan remembers Gearke pulling up carpets and she ripping off wallpaper.
“We’re both hard workers and passionate about creating a home that reflects our aesthetics,” she said. “The kitchen was the first big project. I’m not a purist, but I do like to capture the old-fashioned feel of the place.
That means not having a dishwasher and using a 1940s toaster that you must manually flip the bread. We were pleased to discover the original wood floors beneath two layers of linoleum.”
Since moving in, two ceilings have collapsed—one of the more challenging aspects of owning an older home.
“The ceiling in our ‘summer parlor’ fell in in May,” Morgan recounted. “The chandelier barely survived. We wouldn’t have redone this room so soon, but the ceiling forced our hand.”
Despite the setbacks, Morgan and Gearke have approached the revitalization of their home with tenacity, honoring the original pieces they can preserve and infusing details from their travels and work.
“As temporary caretakers of the house, we feel a responsibility to care and improve it,” she said. “I was thrilled when one day, Ed yelled up from the coal bin in the cellar, ‘Guess what I found?’ It was the original overmantel mirror to the dining room! Returning it to its original place just felt like the right thing to do. We’re also lucky to have an Italian sideboard that is original to the house.”
In the winter, the original dining room features are accompanied by natural elements brought in from the backyard gardens.
“We gather natural materials to create a Yule Log each year,” Morgan said. “We start our celebrations on the winter solstice. We light the first candle, have readings, and open a gift each day. The winter solstice is so important because it slows down the holiday. It’s a time where you know that spring is going to come.”
Morgan and Gearke also make orange pomanders—dried oranges studded with cloves—each year as a natural means of decorating for solstice and the holidays. Their trees and greens are adorned with Victorian ornaments Morgan has made over the years. And even their holiday cards are handmade, depicting scenes that are special from Morgan’s memory—her former home in Galveston, Texas; Gearke dressed as Santa Claus where he was Santa in the Houston and Galveston area for 17 years; and so on.
Apart from the more holiday-centric decor brought out just for the winter months, Morgan and Gearke’s home is peppered with conversation-starters.
There’s the signed René Magritte print over the mantle in the summer parlor, which Morgan proudly bought for a song in a thrift store years ago. There are pastel and ink artworks throughout the home created by Gearke and Morgan, respectively. And there’s the sun-drenched solarium just off Morgan’s writing room where herbs are collected, dried, and gathered for future tinctures and concoctions.
“We’re both gardeners and so we’ve created a formal parterre with brick generously given to us from several neighbors,” Morgan explained. “My aim is to have cutting flowers every season of the year. We have raised beds with vegetables and herbs, a shade garden, and we added a gazebo. As an herbalist, I dry the herbs in the solarium, and in my herbarium, I process them into teas, tinctures, and balms. I study the culinary, medicinal, and magical lore of herbs and often use that information in my novels.”
As Morgan and Gearke move about their home, taking a tea break in the winter parlor for conversation and a slice of the fruitcake that Gearke makes every year for Yuletide, they give no indication of “slowing down,” as is the phrase uttered as one enters retirement years. Rather, you get the sense that they are just ramping up—indulging in their curiosities, picking up projects that fuel them intellectually or creatively, and, as Thoreau said, advancing in the direction of their dreams.
“I’m 65 and Ed is 81 and sometimes at the end of the day, we are so bone-tired from working, we fall into bed,” Morgan said. “After the second ceiling fell, I asked Ed through tears, ‘Is it worth it?’ ‘Yes!’ he said. ‘Is it tea time yet?””
