Page 551 [551]
Historic: GARDENS OF ViISet nla
sloping as it does to the north, the tone of the design must be cool
and peaceful, tending more to grass and evergreens and massing of
shrubbery, than to brilliance and bloom.
It is probable that there was a flower garden here from the
first occupancy of the house. But it is certain that, in 1830, Mr.
Spence, a Scottish landscape gardener, was employed to embellish
the existing grounds. ‘his he did in the garden proper by grading
and terracing the land into three levels, though they are no longer
level today. ‘The lowest of these, that farthest from the house and
next the stone stables, is the kitchen garden. Upon the inter¬
mediate terrace is a pool and some fine old white pines which form
a pleasant little grove of seven. The principal part of the flower
garden lay then, as it does now, upon the highest of the three
levels, and was entered through gates set in a picket fence that
divided it from a little lawn next the house. In this part of the
garden were most of the shrubs and all of the flowers, and here
Mr. Spence set out a number of hemlocks, probably as ornamental
bushes. They are now large trees, and two of them frame a small
vista down the center of the garden to the pool. A number of
other evergreens must have perished, though they can be remem¬
bered by persons still living and are described as having been of
considerable size. Only the pines and hemlocks survive at the age
of about ninety-three, which is youth itself compared to the oaks
in the park.
Some work of additional improvement was done upon the
garden about 1855. But then came the war and destruction. In¬
deed, so far as the garden was concerned, the tragic years that
followed were worse than the war itself. In the seventies, Mr.
George H. Burwell, first, died; his family moved away, and the
place was rented. No doubt, the garden was allowed to grow as it
pleased and, being on fertile ground, it grew into a jungle.
When the present owner came into possession of the property,
in 1908, there were only single foot-paths through great tangled
masses of shrubbery and scrub. But the trees were still there, par¬
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