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The
Gardens of By
Pamela Bowen Many Tri-State residents have enjoyed at least one vacation in Colonial Williamsburg, usually to introduce children to the early history of this country.
But even if the kids are grown, you should consider a return visit -- for your own enjoyment. The restored town offers many historical programs, lectures and exhibits for adults. One of the best is a tour of the Colonial gardens. Even non-gardeners can enjoy this tour because it offers fascinating details about the way people lived in the 1700s. Williamsburg was a planned community. Characterized by broad, straight streets and impressive public buildings, the useful open spaces reflected the current European city planning trends. Each house would sit on a half-acre lot. Typically, the area right behind a house would be a work area paved with brick. This area was bordered by outbuildings such as a smokehouse, kitchen, dairy, laundry, etc., with a well. The kitchen garden, containing herbs and vegetables, would be close to the house. Next to it, a bit farther from the house, would be the orchard, and then a paddock for animals. The different areas would be enclosed by fences at least 4 1/2 feet tall -- required by Colonial law -- to keep the animals out of the gardens. The fences were solid stockade-type fences or occasionally brick walls. Today, most are short white picket fences so tourists can more easily see from one area to the next.
A garden tour begins behind Wetherburn's Tavern, one of 80 original buildings. Taverns -- as well as private homes -- had large gardens filled with the vegetables and herbs the colonists needed. In Colonial times, herbs were used for medicine as well as in cooking. Valerian, which gave rise to today's Valium, was used to induce sleep. Thyme was used for headaches and hangovers. Horehound was for coughs and sore throats. Early Williamsburg residents would strew wormwood on the floor as an insect repellant. Comfrey was used in a poultice for wounds. Tansy was rubbed on meat to keep the flies off -- they didn't know it was toxic. Popular vegetables included purple carrots (orange carrots were developed much later), parsley, Dutch peas, fava beans, lettuce, onions, nasturtium, etc. There were many more varieties then; they had 22 varieties of cabbage, for example.
Much is known about early Williamsburg gardens, thanks to the efforts of a French soldier who stayed there a while after the battle of nearby Yorktown. He drew detailed maps of the buildings and gardens and some trees, and these maps served as a master plan for the restoration. Another French gardener drew detailed maps of the backyard areas, which sometimes also featured "gentry gardens" with elaborate geometric patterns. These gardens featured flowers, boxwood hedges and topiary, along with espaliered fruit trees, illustrating man's control over nature -- a style popular in England in the early 1700s.
Many of Williamsburg's gardens reflect the Dutch-English patterns, popular during the reign of William and Mary. This garden style, characterized by geometric symmetry within an enclosed space, was common in England in the late 17th and early 18th century. The emerging trend toward naturalistic gardens in contemporary England did not appeal to the settlers in Virginia, where a natural landscape did not need to be re-created. To them, a garden was nature tamed, trimmed and enclosed. Like many travelers, the colonists attempted to reproduce the homes they had left behind. Frequently they brought seeds of favorite plants and bulbs to rebuild a version of their old gardens. Garden paths were made of gravel, crushed oyster shells and bits of broken brick. Walkways paved with brick would have been too expensive. Colonists often mentioned what plants they were growing when they wrote to friends and relatives back home in Europe. Many of these letters survive and have served as a guide to planting the reconstructed gardens. Archaeologists have found seeds from some of the original plants in Williamsburg, and can do soil analysis to tell exactly what type of plant was grown in a particular spot. While most of the trees, shrubs and plants seen today in Williamsburg are authentic to the Colonial period, astute observers will notice an abundance of crepe myrtles, pruned as trees in the Southern tradition. That's because John D. Rockefeller, who financed the restoration, loved crepe myrtles and wanted them in the restored city. And since he was paying the bills …
You'll find formal gardens adorning the Royal Governor's Palace. These gardens, geometric and well balanced, feature mazes and topiary, arbors, a canal and bridge, and a series of terraces. Visitors to Williamsburg shouldn't miss the Colonial Nursery, which is tended the way early colonists did. This nursery features cold frames, insulated with straw, to help plants get a head start in spring. The gardeners do all the watering by hand, as in the olden days, and the nursery takes 4,000 pounds of water a day. Each bucket holds about 20 pounds of water, so that's a lot of trips to the well. All Williamsburg gardens are open to tourists. Many are free; others you can visit by showing your general admission tickets. For more information about the gardens of Colonial Williamsburg, visit www.history.org/Almanack/life/garden/garintro.cfm. For general information about Colonial Williamsburg, visit www.history.org. |
