Garden to Table - Jefferson's (1743-1824) Enslaved Cooks

Thomas Jefferson by Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kosciuszko (1746 -1817) 

Much to Our Comfort and Satisfaction: Monticello’s Enslaved Cooks by David Thorson from Monticello Education & Research Blog

Thomas Jefferson is known today as America’s “Founding Foodie” and visitors to Monticello recorded memories of late afternoon dinner “served in half Virginian, half French style in good taste and abundance,” fine wines from Europe accompanied by unique desserts, early breakfasts “as large as our dinner table…tea, coffee, excellent muffins, hot wheat and corn bread, cold ham and butter.” Jefferson acquired his epicurean taste during his five years as Minister to France, tailoring American and Continental foodways for his table.

Jefferson's granddaughter Anne Cary frequently recorded buying eggs, chickens and other produced from members of Monticello's enslaved community.  Jefferson’s records, his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph’s household accounts and family recipes preserved by his granddaughters attest to the remarkable quantity and quality of food and wine served at Monticello. The records rarely mention that the preparation, cooking, serving and cleanup for the meals enjoyed by Jefferson, his family and his guests was made possible by Monticello’s enslaved cooks and their families. Edith Hern Fossett, Monticello’s head cook from 1809 to 1826, followed in the footsteps of three enslaved head chefs before her.

Ursula Granger

Purchased at the request of Jefferson’s wife, Martha, Ursula Granger worked as a cook, pastry chef, cider maker, washer woman and field hand from 1773 to her death in 1800. Records reveal her skills in the preservation of ham and other meats were highly prized by Jefferson. Married to George Granger, Monticello’s only enslaved overseer, she bore three sons, George Junior, Bagwell and Isaac. She, her husband and eldest son died within months of one another in 1799 and 1800 following a mysterious illness.

James Hemings

When Jefferson became Minister to France, he brought James Hemings with him to be trained as a French chef in Paris. On their return to America in 1789, Hemings served as Secretary of State Jefferson’s chef in New York City and Philadelphia. In 1793, Jefferson agreed to free James Hemings in exchange for teaching his brother, Peter Hemings, his cooking skills. Freed in 1796, Hemings worked as a chef in Baltimore and refused President Jefferson’s offer to work as chef in the White House. Following a brief return to Monticello, seeing family and cooking for Jefferson in the summer of 1801, James Hemings returned to Baltimore. Within weeks of his departure from Monticello, Jefferson received the melancholy news “that the report respecting James Hemings having committed an act of Suicide is true.”

Peter Hemings

Trained by his brother James, Peter Hemings was Monticello’s head chef from 1796 to 1809. Praised for his desserts, Jefferson described Peter Hemings as a man of “great intelligence and diligence.” When Edith Fossett became head chef, Peter Hemings trained as a brew master, producing 200 gallons of beer annually in addition to working as a house servant and tailor. His nephew, Daniel Farley, bought and freed Peter Hemings in 1827 at the estate sale following Jefferson’s death. As late as 1838 he was living and working as a tailor in Charlottesville.

Watercolor by Gail McIntosh depicting Edith Fossett and Frances Hern cooking in Monticello's post-1809 Kitchen with another enslaved woman and boy 

Edith Hern Fossett and Frances Gillette Hern

As President, Jefferson’s taste for fine dining and use of mealtime to conduct political and diplomatic business made the White House the center of Washington society. He hired French emigres Étienne Lemaire as Maître d’hôtel and Honoré Julien as chef, bringing the style and cuisine of Paris to the nation’s capital. From Monticello, he brought three enslaved teenage women to train under Lemaire and Julien: Ursula Granger Hughes, Edith Hern Fossett and Frances Gillette Hern. Comments by White House guests that “never before had such dinners been given in the President’s House” speak to Julien’s skill, but do not acknowledge, behind the scenes, enslaved women from Monticello played an invaluable role in creating the bounty of Jefferson’s table.

In 1801, Ursula Hughes, pregnant wife of Monticello’s head gardener, Wormley Hughes, began her apprenticeship with Julien. In 1802 she was sent back to Monticello following the difficult birth and sudden death of her first child and was replaced at the White House by Edith Fossett, wife of Monticello’s head blacksmith, Joseph Fossett. Joined in 1806 by her sister in law, Frances Hern, wife of Monticello wagoner David Hern, Jr., both women learned every aspect of the art of French cooking and the niceties of French etiquette from Julien and Lemaire. Long separations and brief reunions with their husbands strained both of their marriages as did the challenge of raising children while working seven days a week helping prepare elaborate meals for President Jefferson and his guests. When Jefferson left the Presidency in 1809, Edith Fossett and Frances Hern returned to Monticello, working in the French inspired kitchen for the next seventeen years. Étienne Lemaire assured Jefferson that his “two good girls” would serve Jefferson in the same style as Honoré Julien.

Preparing breakfast, dinner and evening snacks to Jefferson’s standards required long hours and attention to detail. Up to twenty people, including Jefferson, his extended family and steady stream of guests dined each day with a representative dinner consisting of “Rice soup, round of beef, turkey, mutton, ham, loin of veal, cutlets of mutton or veal, fried eggs, fried beef, a pie called macaroni, garden vegetables in season and ice cream for dessert accompanied by pudding, a great variety of fruit, plenty of wines."

Rising between 5 and 6 in the morning, Edith Fossett and Frances Hern would light the kitchen fires, prepare dough for breads and rolls, slice ham and make advance preparations for the evening meal. Ursula Hughes might join them to make pastries and Peter Hemings might assist in butchering. The Fossett and Hern children would be engaged in kitchen tasks (William and Peter Fossett, became prominent caterers in Cincinnati after they gained their freedom) and family members tended to the dairy adjacent to the kitchen. Jefferson’s enslaved butler, Burwell Colbert, managing all the household operations, would likely check on progress and supervise children from the Hemings, Gillette, Fossett and Hern family in transferring food from the kitchen to the dining room.

Following breakfast, kitchenware, dinnerware and utensils would be washed and dried and the work of preparing dinner would begin. Dinner was served promptly at 3:30 in the afternoon requiring advance planning to make the best use of the roasting spits and eight stew burners. The three to four hours period prior to dinner were a time to slaughter and hang fowl, beef, and lamb, scale fish and ensure sufficient garden vegetables were on hand. In the fall, curing and smoking ham required constant attention over a three-week period. Soups, entrees, sauces and vegetable side dishes would be prepared by Edith Fossett and Frances Hern with Peter Hemings making desserts and children such as Israel Gillette and Betsy-Ann Fossett on hand to peel and cut the garden vegetables, stir sauces, slice cheese and help transfer food from the main kitchen to the warming kitchen beneath the dining room. In the dining room, Burwell Colbert and his team of enslaved children, including Eston Hemings, set the tables for provided service à la française, a formal version of family style, with diners serving themselves.

During dinner, the enslaved kitchen staff would wash and clean the pots, pans, Dutch ovens and cooking utensils and prepare for the next days’ meals. Dinner would typically end at six in the evening, requiring dinnerware be cleaned and stored for the next day. At 8 in the evening, a light meal, snacks and beverages would be available for Jefferson’s family and guests, requiring an additional round of preparation and cleanup before Edith Fossett and Frances Hern could spend time with their families prior to bed.

For Monticello’s enslaved cooks and their families, the cycle of early rising and fifteen-hour workdays, seven days a week continued from 1809 through Jefferson’s death in 1826.  Hidden from view of Jefferson’s guests who enjoyed the results of their labor, Edith Fossett and Frances Hern were sold along with their children at the 1827 auction of Monticello’s enslaved community to pay Jefferson’s debts.

Research & images & much more are directly available from the Monticello website - to begin exploring, just click the highlighted acknowledgment above. 

South Carolina - 1750 Charleston Description & Early Agriculture in Georgia

Rev. Johann Martin Bolzius (1703-1765), leader of the German Lutheran settlement of Ebenezer, Georgia, wrote of Charleston in 1750, "It is expensive and costly to live in Charlestown...The splendor, lust, and opulence there has grown almost to the limit...Its European clothes it would have to change according to the often changing Charlestown fashion. Otherwise there would be much humiliation and mockery."

Rev. Johann Martin Bolzius, Reliable Answer to Some Submitted Questions Concerning the Land Carolina . . . , 1750, excerpt. 

Bolzius was a leader of the German Lutheran settlement of Ebenezer, Georgia, founded in 1734. Lutheran minister Boltzius, along with religious refugees from Salzburger, founded the settlement of Ebenezer near Savannah in the early1730s as a religious utopia. Boltzius hoped to create a successful agricultural economic system that was not dependent upon slavery.

In Georgia, Bolzius was intensely interested in gardening & agriculture. He urged the adoption of new agricultural technology and helped the struggling community to construct a gristmill, a rice mill, and a sawmill to supplement their funds. He encouraged his wife to experiment with the cultivation of black and white mulberry trees to help the women of Ebenezer develop a small-scale silk production.

Boltzius (sometimes spelled "Bolzius") was senior minister to the Salzburger community at Ebenezer for 3 decades (1735-65). He was a vigorous opponent of slavery during the formative years of the Georgia colony. He claimed that the Salzburgers required his energy & time more than did a burial plot of ground. He died at New Ebenezer on November 19, 1765.

19c Home Remedies from the Garden - Headache

Woman with a Collard Leaf on her Head to Cure a Headache by Mary Lyde Hicks Williams 

Mary Lyde Hicks William (1866-1959) Mary's paintings of freed slaves reflect daily life she saw on her uncle's plantation during Reconstruction in North Carolina. 

Garden to Table -

Peter Jakob Horemans (1700-1776)  Gentleman at a Table Laden with Food (and a Flower) from the Garden   Detail

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Currants

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Currants

Currants, or Corinths, so called from a near resemblance to a Corinthian Grape, (Ribes by the botanists) have many species; but the two principal are the red and white, of which the Dutch sorts are chiefly propagated in England. They are to be propagated from cuttings, planted in the fall, (September) and are directed to remain two years, when they are to be removed into beds, and planted in rows ten feet asunder, and four feet from each other. But the cuttings will succeed as well if planted in a rich light bed, to stand without any removal at all. They will grow either against walls, pales, or in espaliers. If some are planted against a south wall, or in a warm place, and othcrs in a colder situation under a north wall, the fruit will last a long time, as there will be a succession. The fruit grows on the former year's wood, on small snags, which come out of the old wood, wherefore in pruning, these snags ought to be preserved, and the young shoots shortened in proportion to their strength. In pruning, cut off the old wood, and not in heads. I find no directions as to keeping them on single stalks, but I believe this method is best. They will grow in any soil or situation, even under trees, though the open air is best. Your plantation must be renewed in seven or eight years.

Garden to Table -

Woman Bundling Asparagus, 1771, John Atkinson (British artist, fl 1770-1775      Detail

Garden to Table - Home-Made Five Currant Wines + a Currant Shrub Recipe

 

John Greenwood (American artist, 1727-1792) Sea Captains Carousing, 1758.  Detail

John Custis (1678-1749), a prominent citizen of Williamsburg, apparently had a most impressive garden. John Bartram, the Philadelphia naturalist and botanist, commented to Peter Collinson that Custis’ garden was second only to that of John Clayton, the English born Virginia naturalist of Gloucester County. The currants that John Custis grew in his 1730s - 40s gardens could easily been transformed into several wines. 

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines Cordials & Liqueurs 1909 by Helen S. Wright

CURRANT SHRUB
Take white currants when quite ripe, pick them off the stalks, and bruise them. Strain out the juice through a cloth, and to two quarts of the juice put two pounds of loaf sugar; when it is dissolved, add one gallon of rum, then strain through a flannel bag that will keep in the jelly, and it will run off clear. Then bottle for use.

CURRANT WINE
Take four gallons of currants, not too ripe, and strip them into an earthen stein that has a cover to it. Then take two and one-half gallons of water and five and one-half pounds of double refined sugar; boil the sugar and water together, skim it, and pour it boiling hot on the currants, letting it stand forty-eight hours; then strain it through a flannel bag into the stein again, let it stand a fortnight to settle, and bottle it out.

CURRANT WINE, NO. 2
The currants should be fully ripe when picked. Put them into a large tub, in which they should remain a day or two, then crush with the hands, unless you have a small patent wine-press, in which they should not be pressed too much, or the stems will be bruised, and impart a disagreeable taste to the juice. If the hands are used, put the crushed fruit, after the juice has been poured off, in a cloth or sack and press out the remaining juice. Put the juice back into the tub after cleansing it, where it should remain about three days, until the first stages of fermentation are over, and remove once or twice a day the scum copiously arising to the top. Then put the juice in a vessel,—a demijohn, keg, or barrel,—of a size to suit the quantity made, and to each quart of juice add three pounds of the best yellow sugar, and soft water sufficient to make a gallon. Thus, ten quarts of juice and thirty pounds of sugar will give you ten gallons of wine, and so on in proportion. Those who do not like sweet wine can reduce the quantity of sugar to two and one-half, or who wish it very sweet, raise to three and one-half pounds per gallon. The vessel must be full, and the bung or stopper left off until fermentation ceases, which will be in twelve or fifteen days. Meanwhile, the cask must be filled up daily with currant juice left over, as fermentation throws out the impure matter. When fermentation ceases, rack the wine off carefully, either from the spigot or by a siphon, and keep running all the time. Cleanse the cask thoroughly with boiling water, then return the wine, bung up tightly, and let it stand four or five months, when it will be fit to drip, and can be bottled if desired. All the vessels, casks, etc., should be perfectly sweet, and the whole operation should be done with an eye to cleanliness. In such event, every drop of brandy or other spirituous liquors added will detract from the flavor of the wine, and will not in the least degree increase its keeping qualities. Currant wine made in this way will keep for an age.

CURRANT WINE, NO. 3
To every pailful of currants, on the stem, put one pailful of water; mash and strain. To each gallon of the mixture of juice and water add three and one-quarter pounds of sugar. Mix well and put into your cask, which should be placed in the cellar, on the tilt, that it may be racked off in October, without stirring up the sediment. Two bushels of currants will make one barrel of wine. Four gallons of the mixture of juice and water will, after thirteen pounds of sugar are added, make five gallons of wine. The barrel should be filled within three inches of the bung, which must be made air tight by placing wet clay over it after it is driven in. Pick your currants when ripe on a fair day, crush them well, and to every gallon of juice add two gallons of water and three pounds of sugar; if you wish it sweeter, add another one-half pound of sugar. Mix all together in some large vessel, then dip out into earthen jars. Let it stand to ferment in some cool place, skimming it every other morning. In about ten days it will be ready to strain off; bottle and seal, or put in a cask and cork tight. The longer you keep it the better it will be.

CURRANT WINE, NO. 4
Into a five gallon keg put five quarts of currant juice, fifteen pounds of sugar, and fill up with water. Let it stand in a cool place until sufficiently worked, and then bung up tight. You can let it remain in the cask, and draw out as you want to use it.

CURRANT OR GOOSEBERRY WINE, WITHOUT BOILING
Take ten quarts of fruit, bruise it, and add to it five quarts of water. Stir it well together, and let it stand twelve hours; then strain it through a coarse canvas bag or hair sieve, add eleven pounds of good Lisbon sugar, and stir it well. Put the pulp of the fruit into a gallon more water; stir it about and let it stand twelve hours. Then strain to the above, again stirring it; cover the tub with a sack. In a day or two the wine will begin to ferment. When the whole surface is covered with a thick, yeasty froth, begin to skim it on to a sieve. What runs through may be returned to the wine. Do this from time to time for several days, till no more yeast forms. Then put it into the cask.

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines is a cookbook for those who want to make their own wines & liqueurs from available ingredients, including fruits, flowers, vegetables, & shrubs from local gardens, farms, & orchards. It includes ingredients & instructions for making & fermenting spirits, from wine & ale to sherry, brandy, cordials, & even beer. 

Colonial Era Cookbooks

1615, New Booke of Cookerie, John Murrell (London) 

1798, American Cookery, Amelia Simmons (Hartford, CT)

1803, Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter (New York, NY)

1807, A New System of Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Rundell (Boston, MA)

1808, New England Cookery, Lucy Emerson (Montpelier, VT)

Helpful Secondary Sources

America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking/Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Colonial Kitchens, Their Furnishings, and Their Gardens/Frances Phipps Hawthorn; 1972

Early American Beverages/John Hull Brown   Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co 1996 

Early American Herb Recipes/Alice Cooke Brown  ABC-CLIO  Westport, United States

Food in Colonial and Federal America/Sandra L. Oliver

Home Life in Colonial Days/Alice Morse Earle (Chapter VII: Meat and Drink) New York : Macmillan Co., ©1926.

A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America/James E. McWilliams New York : Columbia University Press, 2005.

Plant Lists - John Custis (1678-1749) & Peter Collinson (1694-1768)

Virginia's John Custis IV standing by a cut tulip blossom ca. 1740 attributed to Charles Bridges. (Courtesy of Washington and Lee University, University Collections of Art and History, Lexington, Va.)

John Custis (1678-1749) was a prominent citizen of Williamsburg with an apparently most impressive garden. John Bartram, the Philadelphia naturalist and botanist, commented to Peter Collinson that Custis’ garden was second only to that of John Clayton, the English born Virginia naturalist of Gloucester County.

Peter Collinson (1694-1768) was an English Quaker woolen merchant. Collinson traded in textiles from an office in Grace Street in the city of London, while he maintained an extensive correspondence with American naturalists. His famous garden at Mill Hill contained many American plants, often obtained from both John Bartram and John Custis. Custis’ correspondence with Collinson, the subject of Swemm’s Brothers of the Spade, depicts both the joys and trials experienced by early gardeners in their exchange of plants across the Atlantic. He used his commercial links with the world to introduce many new species of plants into Britain. His gardens at Peckham and, later, Mill Hill became sites of pilgrimage for 18C scholars in horticulture.

Plant List compiled by Peter Hatch from
Brothers of the Spade
Correspondence of Peter Collinson, of London, and John Custis, of Williamsburg, Virginia, 1734-1746
By E. G. Swemm, Director Emeritus, William and Mary College
Published by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1949
Southern Garden History Plant Lists

Plants sent to Collinson by Custis
Botanical Name/ Common Name/ Date/ Custis’s Notes
?Arachis hypogaea peanut 1736 "Angola peas the pea grows in the
ground"
Ariseama triphyllum Jack-in-the-pulpit 1744 "Arum or Cuckow point, Lords &
Ladys, Skunk Weed or skunk Wort,
Indian Turnips"
?Asclepias tuberosa butterfly weed 1736/7 "Mountain or Orange [Clove?] Flower,
Dogs Bane, Apocinon"
Asimina triloba pawpaw 1743/4 papa, papaw
Canna indica Indian-shot 1735 "Indian frill, Cana Indica or Wild
Plaintain or Bonana”
Carya sp. 1735 "Hickerys"
Castanea pumila chinquapin PC 1735 "chinkapins"
Cercis canadensis 1735 "red bud"
Chionanthus virginicus 1735 "Fringe Tree"
Cornus florida 1735 "Dogwood Tree"
Cornus florida rubra 1736/7 "Red flowering Dogwood,” "peach
colour’d dogwood"
Cucumis melo 1738 "sweet smelling Mellon"
Cucumis sativus 1738/9 "long cucumber"
Curcurbita pepo melopepo 1741 "Bush squash that does not Run &
Ramble, eating squash”
Cypripedium acaule or Orchis
spectabilis
pink lady slipper or showy
orchid
1736/7 "Red [or?] White Moccasin flower"

Delphinium exalatum or D.
tricorne
 1737/8 "Wild Larkspur"
Diospyros virginiana 1735 "persimmons or Indian plumb"
Gillenia stipulata or G. trifoliata 1736/7 "Ipacacuana”
Gleditsia triacanthos 1735 "sweet locust pods," "Locus," "Honey
Locust"
Ilex vomitoria yaupon holly 1735 "yoppon or Carolina tea,” "cassenna”
Custis and Collinson
Virgina
 1734-1746
2
Iris verna or versicolor 1735 "Indian iris"
?Kalmia angustifolia sheep laurel 1735 "laurells,"[?]
Kalmia latifolia or K. angustifolia mountain laurel or sheep
laurel
1735 "ivy"
Lagenaria siceraria "pretty little gourd" 1741 "Little pear or snuffbox Gourd,"
Liquidambar styraciflua 1738 "sweet Gum"
Liriodendron tulipifera 1738 "Flowering poplar or Tulip Tree,"
"poplar"
?Magnolia grandiflora southern magnolia 1735 "laurells”
Magnolia tripetala Umbrella Magnolia 1737 "Umbrella," "umbrella tree"
Magnolia virginiana sweet bay magnolia 1736/7 "sweet White Flowering swamp Bay,"
"swamp flowering Bay smaller sort[of
magnolia that] grows with You in the
Swamps," "sweet flowering bay"[?]
Mertensia virginica Virginia blue-bells 1734 "mountain cowslip"
Morus alba 1736 "white Mulberry"
Myrica cerifera wax myrtle 1741 "candle myrtill berrys"
Oenothera biennis Virginia evening Primrose 1737/8 "anagra,” "Virginia Tree primerose”
Oxydendron arboreum sourwood 1736 “sorrellTree”
Panicum maximum or Sorghum
bicolor
 1742/3 "Guinea Corn"
Passiflora incarnata and/or P.
lutea
1737/8 "Passion flower 2 sorts," "Virginia
passion flower"
Physalis sp. 1739/40 "Ground Cherry"
Polygala senega Seneca snakeroot 1736/7 "Rattle Snake Root"
Prunus americana or P. angustifolia American or Chickasaw
plum
1742/3 "your Wild Scarlet plum"
Prunus Persica 1738/9 "peaches"
Prunus serotina 1739 "wild cherry"
Quercus phellos 1736/7 "narrow or Willow Leafed Okes"
Quercus virginiana 1736/7 "live oak acorns"
Rhus typhina staghorn sumach 1738 "sumach that produced Tufts of a Very
Bright scarlet," "Shomake"
Sanguinaria canadensis bloodroot 1735 "pocoone,” "pecoone”
Sassafras albidum 1737/8 "Sarsifrax,” "sassafras"
Taxodium distichum bald cypress 1736/7 "swamp Cypress Cones or Balls"
Viburnum prunifolium "Black Haws" 1737/8
Yucca filamentosa 1735 "silk Grass”
Zanthoxylum americanum 1736 "Toothache Tree"
Zea mays 1741 "Rair Ripe or Early Ripe Indian Corn"

UNIDENTIFIED:
"laurells" [1735] possibilities: Magnolia grandiflora,
Kalmia, Prunus caroliniana
"pearl tree” [1735]
"pellitory" [1742/3] Ptelea trifoliata?
Custis and Collinson
Virgina
 1734-1746
3
Plants sent to Custis by Collinson
Botanical Name Common Name Date Collinson’s Notes
Abies alba 1738 "silver fir"
Abies sp. 1741 "gilded firs ... which are natives of the
Alps"
Aesculus hippocastanum 1734 "horse chestnuts"
Alcea rosea 1735 "Hollihocks"
Allium neapolitanum lily leek 1737 "white moley"
Amaranthus tricolor Joseph’s coat 1742/3 "Amaranthus Tricolor"
Arbutus unedo 1737 “strawberry tree,” "Arbutus"
Asphodeline lutea 1737 "yellow asphodel,” "yellow asphodill"
Asphodelus albus 1739/40 "white Asphodills"
Brassica oleracea 1736 "cabbage"
Buxus sempervirens cv. 1736 “striped box"
Callistephus chinensis 1736 "China Aster"
Cedrus libani 1735 "Cedar of Lebanon"
Celosia cristata 1738 "tall coxcombs"
Chamaecyparis thyoides 1739 "white cedr"
Citrullus lanatus 1736 'Astrican Water Mellon"
Convallaria majalis 1738 "lilly of the valley"
Cucumis melo 1736 "Affrican Mellon," "Calmuc Mellon
with fruite 2 feet long," "Italian
Melon," "Muscovy Mellon 3 sorts,"
"Sir Charles Wagers Melon,"
“muskmellon"
Cucumis sativis 1736 "Muscovy Cucumber,” "cucumber,"
"long cucumber"
Cupressus sempervirens 1735 "cypress"
Cyclamen sp. 1739/40 "Cyclamens"
Cyclamen coum 1742/3 "spring cyclamen"
Dianthus chinensis 1738 "Double Flowering China or India
pink," "India pinks"
Dictamnus albus gas plant 1742/3 "White Fraxinelloes"
Dictamnus albus ‘ruber’ 1742/3 "Red Fraxinelloes"
Digitalis purpurea 1738 "rose colored foxglove"
Digitalis purpurea ‘alba’ 1737 “flatt?] stalk full of white long hollow
blossoms," "White Fox Glove"
Echinops sphaerocephalus or E.
ritro
 1738 "globe [thistle?]"
Eranthis hyemalis 1739/40 "spring Acconite”
Fragaria chiloensis 1736 "Chili strawberry"
Fragaria vesca hautboy strawberry 1736 "Houtboye”
Fritillaria imperialis crown imperial lily 1739 "orange colord"
Fritillaria imperialis lutea 1737 "yellow ones," "lemon colord crown
imperiall”
Fritillaria imperialis cv. 1738 "striped"
Gomphrena globosa globe amaranth 1737 "Amarantheodes,” "Amaranthoides"
Helichrysum orientale 1736 "yellow everlasting flower"
Hesperis matronalis cv. dame's rocket 1735 "Double Rockketts,” "white double
rocketts"
Custis and Collinson
Virgina
 1734-1746
4
Hibiscus syriacus rose-of-Sharon 1736 "althea”
Ilex aquifolium cvs. 1738 "[gilded?] hollys," "silver holly," "gold
holly"
Ilex aquifolium "Ferox” 1736 "Hedge Hog Holley"
Jasminum sambac 1738 "Arabian jessamins"
Juniperus communis 1735 "juniper berrys"
Laburnum anagyroides golden chain-tree 1735 "laburnum"
Larix decidua 1736 “larch tree”
Laurus nobilis English laurel 1736/7 "Bay Berries,” "bays"
Lavandula stoechas French lavender 1735 "crysanthamum arabian stecus,”
"stecos"
?Lilium bulbiferum or
chalcedonicum
 1742/3 "fiery lily"
?Lilium martagon or chalcedonicum martagon lily? 1739 "red,” "scarlet," "sorts of martigons"
Lilium sp. 1736 "striped Lilly's”
Lonicera sp. 1740 "honey suckles"
Lonicera sp. 1735 "double honysuckles"
Lonicera periclymenum belgica Dutch Woodbine1740 "dutch [honeysuckles]"
Lycospersicon lycopersicon tomato 1742/3 "Apples of Love," "Tamiata”
Malus pumila var. paradisiaca paradise apple 1736 "dwarf apple trees [?] stocks"
Morus nigra 1738 "black mulberry"
Nerine sarniensis 1736 "Gurnsey Lillies"
Nicotiana sp. tobacco 1736 "tob: seed"
Phaseolus sp. 1737 "beans"
Phlomis tuberosa 1736 "Spanish sage trees"
Phoenix dactylifera 1735 "Dates"
Picea abies Norway spruce 1742/3 "spruce Firr"
Picea sp. 1738 "Spruces"
Pinus cembra Swiss stone pine 1738 “stone pines,” "Siberian Cedars"
Pistacia vera 1735 "Pistacioes Nutts, "Pistacios,"
"Pistacia”
Pisum sativum 1737 "peas"
Polianthes tuberosa 1735 "Tuberorse,” "Italian Tuberoses"
Polygonum orientale prince's feather 1736/7 "Oriental Persicary"
Primula x poliantha 1736 "polyanthus"
Prunus dulcis cvs. 1734 almonds: "green shell,” "brown shell,
"cornell,” "soft shell,” "hardshell,"
"thin shelld"
Prunus insititia damson plum 1736/7 "Bullice,” "Damosins"
Prunus padus or Cornus mas European bird cherry or
Cornelian cherry
1738 "cluster cherry"
Prunus persica cvs. 1737 "best peaches, "variety of peaches"
Prunus persica ‘Catherine’ 1740 "Catherine," "Katherine peach"
Prunus persica cv. 1734 "Double Blossome peach"
Prunus persica 'Nutmeg' 1736/7 "Nutmeg peach"
Prunus persica nucipersica 1737 "Nectarines"
Prunus sp. 1735 "chery seeds"
Prunus spinosa blackthorn plum 1736/7 "Sloes"
Pulmonaria officinalis lungwort 1735 "Jerusalem Cowslip"
Quercus suber cork oak 1736-37 "Evergreen Oke whose Bark is the
Cork wee use for Bottles"
Quercus ilex holly oak 1736/7 "Italian Evergreen Okes"
Ranunculus asiaticus Persian ranunculus 1741 "ranunculus"
Rancunculus ficaria 1737 "double yellow pile Wort"
Rhamnus cathartica 1742/3 "Buck thorn"
Ribes sativum 1738 'White Dutch'"White Currants,”
Custis and Collinson
Virgina
 1734-1746
5
 “dutch white currant bushes”
Rosa centifolia muscosa 1740 "Moss province"
Rosa x damascene var. 1740 "monthly rose"
Rosa x damascene versicolor 1742/3 "York & Lancaster Rose"
Rosa foetida Austrian briar rose 1736 "yellow rose"
?Rosa gallica versicolor Rosa Mundi 1740 “moonday rose"
?Rosa gallica 1736 "red rose"
Rosa x hemisphaerica 1735 "yellow province rose," "double yellow
rose," "other yellow rose"
Scilla peruviana 1737 "Blew & White Hyacinth of peru”
Spartium junceum 1736 "Spanish Broome"
Sternbergia lutea winter daffodil 1739-40 "Autumn Narciss with a yellow
Crocus Like flower"
Syringa vulgaris 1737 "lilacks" [other than "pale blew"]
Syringa persica 1738 "persian lilack, "persian lilock"
Tulipa cvs. 1735 "Double Tulips," "tulips," "early
tulips"
Vigna unguiculata 1736 "Italian beans," "black eyed indian
peas"
Vitis vinifera 1736 "grape seeds," "Vines," "White Grape"

UNIDENTIFIED:
“mountain flax” [1742] Swemm says snakeroot but JC
requests this as a medicinal plant he
believes to be very common in
England
“Oriental [?], plant of
paradice”
 [1744]
Spanish sage trees [1736] Phlomis tuberosa ?
“syringa[“?] [ 1741] listed among bulbs ?
Laurells [1736] "which I [JC] had very plenty of
before" Magnolia grandiflora, Laurus
nobilis, Prunus (Lauroceraus)
caroliniana?
"The name of the flower white
on one side red on the other"
Possibly Asphodelus albus -- white
w/brown bracts
“Drassenis” 1741] Swemm indexes as "Dracaena”
"small bulbous roots like
hyacinths"
 [1736] scilla?

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (1727-1784) - Featherfew

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Featherfew

Featherfew, Mutrecaria, from Matrix, being good against diseases of the womb, or Parthenium, from Parthenos, gr. a virgin, is to be propagated from seed or roots; if the former, they should be sown in March, and if the latter, the roots should be pricked out above eight inches asunder in May. If you do not want the seeds, cut the stems off when the flowers are past, as they often decay the roots..

Gentry Fishing in Early America

Fishing in the British American colonies was both a practical & a social sport, and the outcome was as unpredictable then as it is nowadays. Some estate owners included fishing ponds in their garden area, such as Thomas Jefferson did at Monticello. 

This poem appeared in the 1754 Maryland Gazette about preparing a list of items to take on a picnic & fishing trip on the Severn River in Annapolis.  This particular fishing trip sounds very social...

18C English woodcut

Six bottle of wine, right old, good and clear;
a dozen at least, of English strong Beer:
Six quarts of good Rum, to make Punch and Grogg
(the latter a Drink that’s now much vogue)
some Cyder, if sweet, would not be amiss:
Of Butter Six pounds, we can’t do with less.

A tea Kettle, Tea, and all the Tea Geer,
To treat the Ladies and also small Beer.
Sugar, Lemons, a Strainer, likewise a Spoon;
Two China Bowls to drink out of at Noon:
A large piece of Cheese, a Table Cloth too,
A sauce-pan, two Dishes, and a Corkscrew:
Some Plates, Knives and Forks, Fish Kettle or pot,
And pipes and Tobacco must not be forgot:
A frying pan, Bacon or Lard for to Fry:
a tumbler and Glass to use when we’re dry
A hatchet, some Matches, a Steel and a Flint,
Some touch-wood, or Box with good tinder in’t.
some vinegar, Salt, some Parsley and Bread
or else Loaves of Pone to eat in it’s stead:
and for fear of bad Luck at catching of Fish
Suppose we should carry- A READY DRESSED DISH