Who gets the money collected on the lawn at Grace Episcopal Church on Thanksgiving morning? Most people who have stood there remember the riders in livery, the hounds and the cider. Fewer know that the church keeps a running list of where the collection goes. Read year by year, that list shows a Glenmore neighbor's Thanksgiving gift going back again and again to the same few stables, rescues and service-dog trainers.
Grace first held the Blessing of the Hounds on November 28, 1929. The church calls it a Thanksgiving Day tradition and says it was one of the first churches in the country to hold such a service. Its own list of recipients marks 2020 as a year with no service. CharlottesvilleFamily lists this year's service for Thursday, November 26, 2026, at 10 a.m. The church is at 5607 Gordonsville Road in Keswick, along Route 231.
The Order of the Morning
The service has looked much the same for nearly a century, and the people involved are part of the reason. Keswick Hunt Club was founded in 1896 by 19 men. The club says foxhunting here goes back to 1742 and that John Stewart started the Thanksgiving Blessing at Grace in 1929. The church itself is older. Grace's history page says a mountain chapel probably stood on the site in the 1730s, the parish commissioned a church in 1745, and the wooden church was finished in 1748.
Local accounts from different years describe the morning in the same order:
- Arrival and cider. Grace hands out cider and doughnuts before the outdoor service, which the church says can draw up to 1,000 people. Parking volunteers direct cars to a designated area.
- The line on the lawn. In 29News coverage from Thanksgiving 2025, riders formed a line on the church lawn with the pack gathered at their horses' feet. A 2010 Virginia Living account adds bagpipes and riders in formal livery.
- The blessing. Rector Miles Smith blesses the riders, horses and hounds, and the foxes too.
- The collection. According to a 2018 Keswick Life cover story, the service and the collection come before the horn.
- The horn and the ride-out. After a horn call, the huntsman and hounds set off with the riders behind them, leaving the churchyard and crossing Route 231. The club lists Paul Wilson as huntsman since 2017.
The fourth step is the only one whose outcome changes from year to year.
A Collection Plate With a Long Memory
Grace says it collects donations for local animal charities at the Blessing, and it posts the recipients year by year on its beneficiaries page. Since 2000 the list has gone through three broad phases.
In the early 2000s the money mostly went to general community causes. Animal Haven and CASA received it in 2000. Animal Haven, the Blue Ridge Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity shared it in 2001, Meals on Wheels received it in 2002, and the Blue Ridge Food Bank again in 2004.
From 2007 to 2011 the focus turned to animal shelters and rescues: the Fluvanna SPCA in 2007, the Charlottesville SPCA in 2009, HOWS and Eagle Hill Equine Rescue in 2010, and those two plus Rikki Sanctuary in 2011.
Since 2013 the gift has moved closer to the hunt itself, and the same names keep coming back:
- Montanova Stables: 2013, 2014, 2022, 2023 and 2024
- Service Dogs of Virginia: 2013, 2015, 2021 and 2025
- Hope's Legacy: 2019, 2023 and 2024
- The Wildlife Center of Virginia: 2012, 2016 and 2017
- HOWS: 2010, 2011, 2016 and 2024
Lafayette Academy riding scholarships appear in 2013 and its riding programs in 2014. The Keswick Heritage Fund shared the 2021 collection with Service Dogs of Virginia. In 2024 the collection was split four ways, among Montanova Stables, Hope's Legacy, HOWS, and the UVA Women's Health Clinic/Heart Health. Both 2020 entries carry the same note, that there was no service because of COVID-19.
Last year's collection went to two organizations close to home. 29News reported that offerings taken on site in 2025 went to Keswick Sensory Farm and Service Dogs of Virginia. The rector summed up the morning in the same report:
"It is tradition, it is family, it is spirituality, it is charity."
The lawn holds horses, hounds and their riders, and in recent years the collection has mostly gone to groups that work with horses, dogs and wildlife. That is the circle a visitor's contribution will most likely join this year.
The Hunt Keeps Its Own Calendar
The Blessing is the most public moment of a much longer season. Keswick Hunt Club describes its organized season as running from September through March, and its opening meet this year was October 17. The club's tailgate page lists potluck tailgates at most fall meets, with these fixtures still ahead after Halloween:
| Date | Fixture |
|---|---|
| November 18 | Green Springs Plantation |
| November 21 | East Belmont |
| November 28 | West End |
| December 5 | Cismont Manor |
| December 19 | East End |
These are club gatherings, and the club handles questions about them through its own contacts. They still matter to anyone who drives these roads. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is a meet day at West End, so the hunt is out again just two days after the churchyard. The club's etiquette guide tells riders that hounds have the right of way, to keep still and quiet when hounds check, and to be discreet with photos and respect landowners' privacy. The hunt crosses private land, and those rules are what keep it welcome there.
The Rest of the Long Weekend, Within the Same Few Miles
Thanksgiving week around Keswick offers more than the hunt, and most of it stays close to Route 231 and Route 250.
Thursday afternoon. At Keswick Hall, 701 Club Drive, Marigold by Jean-Georges is taking Thanksgiving reservations on Resy for November 26, with seatings from noon to 8 p.m. The event listing describes a prix-fixe menu built around KellyBronze turkey, with Wagyu strip or seared black bass as alternatives. Keswick Hall also keeps its Pavilion pool open and heated through December 31, although the Horizon Pool closes for seasonal maintenance starting November 4.
Friday. Merrie Mill Farm & Vineyard, at 594 Merrie Mill Farm in Keswick, has Black Friday Music with Wavelength from 1 to 4 p.m. on November 27. Its posted November-through-April hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and weekends. It is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Saturday. This is the West End meet day for the hunt. Farther afield, Eastwood Farm and Winery at 2531 Scottsville Road holds its first Young Makers Market from 1 to 4 p.m., with vendors who are children and teens.
December 5, When Keswick's Calendars Meet
The Saturday after the long weekend brings the season's next cluster of events in one day. The hunt meets at Cismont Manor. Merrie Mill runs a Blooms4Good wreath-making workshop from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and then its Annual Holiday Market from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The same day, Charlottesville's Grand Illumination takes place at Ting Pavilion.
Before then, the Blessing on Thursday, November 26, is the one morning each year when the hunt starts in public, at a church that has stood on Gordonsville Road since 1748. Cider is served before the service, the collection comes before the horn, and the riders cross Route 231 once the hounds are called.
Every year we watch Keswick's hunt-country traditions shape the land around Glenmore, from the meet fixtures to the farms the hunt rides across. If you would like to talk about the estates and acreage along these roads, Loring Woodriff Real Estate would be glad to share what we know. Let's work together.
