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Issue 105
February 2003
1e kOCK[ FELLER, JR. LIBRARY
JILLIAMSP.' JRG FOUNDATION
P. 0. Box 1776
GEDDY GARDEN NEWTS
Williamsburg, Virginia 23187
Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory.
They .peak his praises withoutflattery, and they are blessings to childrenyet unborn."
Lord Orrery
Those of us in museum work find it is helpful to be aware of what other museums are doing.
By occasionally taking field trips to other historical sites we can compare and contrast interpretive
techniques and learn a variety of presentation skills, as well as related historical information.
A group of us recently had the opportunity to take such a trip to Gunston Hall and Mount
Vernon. Gunston Hall was the plantation of George Mason and is located about twenty miles south
of Washington, D.C., overlooking the Potomac River.
The beautiful house was built in 1755 and is a mansion befitting a man of George Mason' s
social and political standing. He was the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which served
as the model for the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
The house contains a collection of 18`s- century furnishings. I found it interesting that
George Mason loved fine silver and on significant family occasions he commemorated the events by
purchasing impressive pieces of silver. Therefore, almost every silver item in his home had special
meaning for him.
The grounds and gardens at Gunston Hall held a special interest for me, of course. The
outbuildings on the property are reconstructed, but the boxwood lining the 12- foot wide central
allee is over 240 years old. Gardens are ephemeral, so even when George Mason was in residence
there were changes taking place in the garden due to nature itself.
Until a year ago there was archaeology taking place in the formal gardens in hopes of
discovering the appearance of that area of his landscape during his time. Some of the answers lie
below the surface of the ground and some lie in writings, records, and drawings. Unfortunately,
most of the records with useful garden facts are lost, but one very beneficial document remains. It is
a description that was written by his second youngest son, John, recalling his father' s 5, 500 acre
plantation.
He mentioned mulberry and walnut trees and a paled fence that enclosed the kitchen garden.
He also mentioned that there were slave quarters. George Mason owned about ninety slaves and
John wrote that on the opposite side of the house were some other dwellings for slave families.
These sites have been excavated. John was in his sixties when these recollections were written by
him, so some feel that he might have been forgetful at that age and might have left out some facts.
What was offered by him was sufficient for the recreation of the plantation landscape at Gunston
Hall. He wrote of four equal sided beds with pebbled walkways, a bowling green, a cemetery, a deer
park, and one -acre beds filled with flowers and enclosed by fences.
�The entrance to the plantation consisted of two rows of cherry trees, fifteen on each side,
with footpaths between each row. They do not appear there today, but one can imagine the beauty
of the ride to the house in the springtime when those cherry trees were in bloom.
By the 19th century the terraced slope to the river was probably developed into falling
gardens with flower beds planted on each side of the walkway to the river.
As I mentioned, archaeology was discontinued last year. This was due to lack of funding as
Gunston Hall, like so many museums, is suffering financially during these trying economic times.
There are hopes and plans for the future, when the economy improves, to continue garden
archaeology and possibly reconstruct the slave quarters.
I know the past is not retrievable, but by studying the past we can appreciate and understand
some of the values of our forefathers. They had an awareness and an appreciation of the value of the
landscape.
2anet jutlzzie
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Geddy Garden News
Description
An account of the resource
The Geddy Garden News was a monthly newsletter produced by employee Janet Guthrie who worked for many years as a garden interpreter at the James Geddy House. The Library holds a partial run of this newsletter (issues 33-114 with some gaps) for the years 1996-2003. The newsletter ceased publication in 2003 upon Guthrie’s retirement.
Subjects covered most often in the newsletters are 18th century gardens, gardening publications, gardens of the Founding Fathers, plant uses, early and pre-Christian folklore, and seasonal customs. Much good and interesting information is found within these newsletters, but current users should be alert for some now archaic interpretive sources, Latin errors, and cultural generalizations, especially with Native peoples/nations of North America which are often treated as one culture instead of many.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Guthrie, Janet
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Geddy Garden News, no. 105, February, 2003
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Guthrie, Janet
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation