Painter Charles Willson Peale & His Sons as Naturalists & Scientists

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Charles Willson Peale (American artist, 1741-1827)

Article from The Salisbury Times (now called The Delmarva Times), Salisbury, Maryland - July 17,1958 from the Delmarva Heritage Series, by Dr. William H. Wroten, Jr.

Charles Wilson Peale, besides being classed as a painter and patriot, was also a naturalist, founder of a famous museum, and writer. Besides his memoirs, and some other unpublished writings, he was the author of such works as "An Essay On Building Wooden Bridges," "Discourse Introductory To A Course of Lectures on the Science of Nature," "Introduction to a Course of Lectures on Natural History," "An Epistle to a Friend on the Means of Preserving Health," and "An Address to the Corporation and Citizens of Philadelphia."

After the Revolutionary War, during a period when economic conditions seemed rather unfavorable to the artist's profession, Peale came across the fact that the bones of a mammoth had been discovered in New York State. Friends suggested to Peale that he make his art gallery a repository also of natural curiosities. The idea appealed to him and such an arrangement was established. At one time the museum was even granted free use of the State House (Independence Hall) which, a short time before, had been vacated by the legislature. Later it became incorporated as the Philadelphia Museum. In its time this museum in scope and character was of the first rank.

Davy Crockett in 1834, during his travels to eastern cities, wrote, "... I was taken to Peale's museum. I shall not attempt to describe the curiosities here; it is above my bend. I could not help, however, thinking what pleasure of curiosity folks could take in sticking up whole rows of little bugs, and such like varmints, I saw a boy there that had been born without any arms or hands; and he took a pair of scissors in his toes, and cut his name in full, and gave it to me. This I call a miracle."

Mrs. Anne Royall, who was born in Maryland, paid a visit to the museum in the 1820's while in Philadelphia. "It may readily be supposed," she wrote, "that the idea of seeing a place so celebrated as the museum of Philadelphia, inspired me with no common curiosity: that, and the market to me, were objects of the first interest, which I had long and ardently wished to see. The museum is in Chestnut St., near the corner of S. 4th St. I soon discovered it by a sign, and after crossing a gallery, came to a staircase, wide enough to admit a wagon and team. I made but a few steps, before one of them springing under my fee, rung a bell to my great surprise, and upon gaining the stairs, I was met by a man whose business it is to receive the money paid, which is 25 cents. The first object of my inquiry was the mammoth skeleton, but I was greatly disappointed in its appearance. The skeleton is indeed large as is represented, but it had not that formidable, dread-inspiring aspect which my romantic turn led me to expect and with which I expected to be overwhelmed: I beheld it without surprise or emotion. It is standing upon its feet in a small room, which is lighted by a large window, enclosed with a rail as high as one's breast, and presenting its side foremost. The whole has a very dark appearance, and in many parts it is quite black. In some instances the bone is as hard as iron, while other parts seem to be in a moulding condition ... Although I was not thrown into hysterics at the sight of the mammoth skeleton, I found enough of the marvelous in the museum to remunerate for the disappointment. Amongst these were the sea-lion, the skeleton of a horse, which when living, measured 20 hands in height, with a human figure on its back'. A sheep weighing 214 lbs., the devil-fish - in short, ten thousand things wonderful and pleasing, including 200 portraits of our most distinguished men. Of all the portraits, I was particularly struck with those of Commodore Perry, Doctor Rush, Latrobe, and Albert Gallatin."

The museum was founded by Mr. Peale in 1784; this indefatigable man has done more since that time, than one would suppose could be done by a whole nation - the collection is endless ... After paying once, you have free liberty of the museum as often as you choose to call."

Despite the shortcomings expressed by such travelers as Davy Crockett and Mrs. Anne Royall, the educational aspect of the museum was developed for Peale's staff included professional men in zoology, comparative anatomy and mineralogy. In exhibiting his wild life he added a semblance of natural habitat, an interesting innovation. His museum became so famous that it tended to obscure his career as a portrait painter.

Although Peale more or less retired in the 1790's he continued to do some painting to enlarge his portrait gallery and to acquire the money for the museum, which depended mainly on his purse. After 1810, when he retired to his country home, his sons, who were trained naturalists, relieved him of the active supervision of the museum.

Some of the famous sons of Charles Wilson Peale by his first wife were Raphael and Rembrandt, painters, and Titian and Rubens, naturalists. Two sons of the second marriage, Franklin and Titian Ramsay (named after his half-brother who died during a yellow fever epidemic in 1789) were trained naturalists.

Rembrandt Peale (American artist, 1778-1860)

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860) like his father, was a famous portrait painter, who also had the opportunity of studying under Benjamin West in England. Although he produced numerous portraits and historical works, he had the misfortune to live at a time when America was not demonstrating much artistic interest. Horace Wells Sellers says, "Technically, Rembrandt Peale may have been a better painter than his father, but not one of his canvases exhibits the charm and decorative qualities of those of the elder Peale ... as a result his portraits while good likenesses, are perfunctory."

Most people of Maryland, and the United States in general, will not associate Rembrandt Peale with his paintings but with his gallery and museum in Baltimore. His father tried to discourage him from establishing such an undertaking in Baltimore but the son was determined to do so, and to found, if possible, an academy for teaching the fine arts. The building was erected, and he opened his exhibits in 1814. Paul Wilstach, in Tidewater Maryland, said, "The brothers opened the museum the same year that the streets of an American city first flamed here with 'carbureted hydrogen gas,'" and in the advertisement of the museum, Peale made a point of the fact that it, too was illuminated by "Gas Light - Without oil, Tallow, Wick or Smoke."

Rembrandt tried to maintain his museum on the same basis of his father's, but the support of the people was not sufficient and finally his brother Rubens, the naturalist, who had managed the one in Philadelphia, came to take over.

Reubens Peale with a Geranium by his brother Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860)

Rembrandt Peale was probably the most famous of Charles Willson Peale's sons, but Raphael (1774-1825) achieved success as a painter of miniatures and for his still-life canvases. He also painted with his brother Rembrandt; working together in the 1790's they attempted to establish a portrait gallery of distinguished persons in Baltimore.

Although Titian Ramsay (1799-1885) was somewhat of an artist, he is more famous as a naturalist and director of museums of natural history. He traveled on various expeditions painting, studying, and collecting specimens. He traveled to the coast of Georgia and Florida, the Upper Missouri River region, South America, and the South Seas.

Titian Ramsay Peale 1819

Much space has been devoted to the Charles Wilson Peale family, and rightfully so, but mention must be given to his brother and family. James Peale (1749-1831), born in Chestertown, Md., was the youngest son of Margaret and Charles Peale. He was taught not only the art of the saddler but that of the painter by his more famous brother, James, too, served in the Revolutionary War, first with Smallwood's Maryland Regiment and later with the First Maryland, in which he reached the rank of captain.

After the war he left Maryland to live with Charles in Philadelphia, where he met and married Mary Claypoole, the daughter of James Claypoole, another artist. Although he painted portraits and landscapes, he is best known as a painter of miniatures. He followed mainly the style of Charles Wilson Peale.

James Peale (American, 1749-1831)

James' only son became a banker, but tow of his five daughters, Sarah Miriam and Anna Claypoole Peale became painters. Sarah Miriam became a portrait painter, most famous probably for her canvas of Lafayette in 1825, while Anna painted miniatures but not quite the equal of either her father or uncle.
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Plants in Early American Gardens - Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris)

The Bavarian physician-botanist Philipp von Siebold brought this magnificent hydrangea from Japan in 1862. It was introduced into London’s Kew Gardens by Max Leichtlin in 1878 and the first specimens in American gardens were introduced through the Arnold Arboretum in Boston during the late 19th century. 

Schizophragma hydrangeoides is a related woody vine, also from Japan, that is often confused with the true climbing hydrangea. Both are showy, vigorous, and considered garden classics.

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Pots for the Plants

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Flower Pot with Chives

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been preparing the pots of plants we brought into the sunroom for the winter, to return to the outdoors. A tradition centuries old. We don't have a greenhouse on our property, but there were several greenhouses in colonial and early America.
Robert Lewis Reid (American painter, 1862-1929) The Old Gardener 1920

Claude Monet (1840-1926) Three Pots of Tulips 1882

Rembrandt Peale (American painter, 1778-1860) Portrait of the Artist's Brother Rubens Peale with Geranium 1801.

Garden Structures & Ornaments - The Perfect Food for Doves with Just a Little Alcohol

Valuable Secrets Concerning Arts and Trades. Published by Will Hay, London. 1775

To preserve and multiply pigeons. In a large dovecote, prepare the following food, which will induce your pigeons to love their cote, and also to bring you a great many strangers when they go abroad. 

Take thirty pounds of millet, three of cumin, five of honey, half a pound of bishop's wort, otherwise coflus, two pounds of agnus cajlus's seed, which boil in river water to the total evaporation of the last. Then in its stead pour a gallon and a half, or two gallons of red Port, with about eight pounds of old mortar well pulverised, which set on the fire again for about half an hour to concoct.

Thus all those ingredients will harden and form a lump, which, if placed in the middle of the dovecote, will in a short time amply reward you for your expense.

Emile Munier (French Academic Painter, 1840-1895) Young Doves Coo 1891

Plants in Early American Gardens - Variegated Sweet Iris

Variegated Sweet Iris (Iris pallida 'Variegata')

The Variegated Sweet or Zebra Iris belongs to an ancient group that was the ancestor to our modern Tall Bearded Iris. Although it is not certain when the variegated form arose, the species types date to the seventeenth century and were cultivated by the earliest settlers in America. They are tough, deer resistant, drought tolerant, long-lived and resistant to borers and disease.

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Primary Source - Tho Jefferson (1743-1824) on Farming & Gardening

In 1781, Thomas Jefferson wrote,

"Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."

Thomas Jefferson
















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Plants in Early American Gardens - Sword-leaf Phlox

Sword-leaf Phlox (Phlox buckleyi)

Native to Virginia and West Virginia, this low-growing phlox was named for Samuel B. Buckley, who found it growing wild near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in the early 1800s. 

P. buckleyi was not introduced into gardens until botanist and mineralogist Edgar T. Wherry named it in 1930. Wherry, an expert on ferns and president of the American Fern Society from 1934-39, also wrote The Genus Phlox (1955). Sword-leaf phlox is a tough, evergreen perennial with small yet showy flowers that attract butterflies.

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Nurseryman - Patrick Barry - 1816-1890

Patrick Barry–(1816-1890)–Rochester, New York–

Barry was born near Belfast, Ireland in 1816 and was a teacher in Ireland, but at 21 years old he went to seek his fortune in America. He arrived in New York in May 1836 and worked with William Prince and Sons, proprietors of the Linnaean Nursery, Flushing, NY. There Barry got a solid foundation in American horticulture.

In the summer of 1840 he negotiated a partnership with George Ellwanger in Rochester, NY. Ellwanger & Barry were the proprietors of the Mount Hope Nurseries. In 1842 Barry wrote an article on “Horticulture in Western New York,” in which he criticized the refusal of the judges at the State Agricultural Society Fair of 1842 to award fruit prizes. In 1844 Barry took the post of editor of the Horticultural Department of the Genesee Farmer and continued there for eight years.

In 1847 Barry journeyed through Europe, visiting all the leading nurserymen and studied their methods for pruning. Shortly after his return he started writing The Fruit Garden that was published in 1851. In 1849, Barry gave the annual meeting address to the Genesee Valley Horticultural Society that met at the Monroe County Agricultural Society’s fair.

Barry was editor of The Horticulturist for 1853 and 1854. He was president of the Western New York Horticultural Society for more than thirty years; president of the New York Agricultural Society; president of the Rochester City & Mechanics Savings Bank; Rochester Gas Co.; and Powers Hotel Co. In 1877 he served as the president of the State Agricultural Society. He died June 23, 1890.

Information from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries research.
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Garden to Table - Home-Made Fig Wine

 

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

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

FIG WINE
Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced to a kind of pulp. Then strain out the water, pressing the pulp hard and pour it as hot as possible on the figs that are imbrued in the wine. Let the quantities be nearly equal, but the water somewhat more than the wine and figs. Let them stand twenty-four hours, mash them well together, and draw off what will run without squeezing. Then press the rest, and if not sweet enough add a sufficient quantity of sugar to make it so. Let it ferment, and add to it a little honey and sugar candy, then fine it with white of eggs, and a little isinglass, and draw it off for use.

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.

History Blooms at Monticello - Marseilles

 ‘Marseilles’ Fig (Ficus carica cv.)

‘Marseilles’ Fig (Ficus carica cv.)

In 1809 Jefferson wrote to Dr. William Thornton, a close friend and architect of the Capitol in Washington: “I will take some occasion of sending you some cuttings of the Marseilles fig, which I brought from France with me, & is unquestionably superior to any fig I have ever seen.” 

This variety was planted in the “submural beds” at the base of the kitchen garden wall, which afforded a warm microclimate necessary to bear fruit. Jefferson had unusual success with figs and noted their appearance at the Monticello table in 1816 and 1820. He also shared ‘Marseilles’ figs with John Hartwell Cocke, owner of Bremo Plantation along the James River. Cocke sent his slave Jesse to Monticello in 1817 to collect some plants.

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History Blooms at Monticello - Red Crown Imperial Lily

 Red Crown Imperial Lily (Fritillaria imperialis 'Rubra Maxima')

The Crown Imperial Lily was brought to Western Europe from Southern Turkey and Kashmir as early as 1576. By 1770 Dutch bulb growers had developed 13 distinct varieties. 

Thomas Jefferson ordered this lily from Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon five times before receiving three "roots" of the orange and a rare "silver striped" form in 1812. It is also called "Stink Lily" and "Old Stinky," because of its foxy odor.

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Garden History - Tools

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Dear friends gave me an old dibble yesterday. To celebrate my great good fortune in both friends & dibbles, I am posting this non-American print of working in a more sophisticated European 18th-century garden. Enjoy, while I will be caressing my smooth, smooth old hand-carved wooden dibble.

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Plants in American Gardens - Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Pepper

Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum var. annuum)

This Italian heirloom variety was brought to America in 1887 by the Nardello family when they immigrated to Connecticut. Jimmy Nardello preserved his mother’s favorite strain of sweet frying pepper and, in 1983, his son James donated seed to Seed Savers Exchange. Known for disease resistance and broad climate tolerance, it ripens to fire-engine red, and is delicious fresh, sautéed, or roasted.

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Garden Labor - Family

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Family Garden Helpers

Surprisingly, landed gentry & small town merchants & artisans generally employed the same kinds of help in the garden during the latter half of the 18th century in the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South. (That region usually includes Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, & Virginia; but my research seldom is all-inclusive for the entire area.)

While there are not many records of exactly who was working in the garden during the growing season, there are a few. Hard-working Annapolis craftsman William Faris used apprenticed & indentured white servants, free & slave blacks, & his own family to maintain his Annapolis garden. Here the use of garden labor between the artisan & the gentry differed.

At the homes of the gentry, the family seldom helped with garden tasks, except that the wives usually managed the daily activities of the kitchen garden and the poultry yard, as well as daily tasks of the house staff.

All of craftsman Faris' children, who were living close to home between 1792 & 1804, (when Faris was recording daily in his diary) helped in the garden, usually assisting a slave or temporary hired help.

Faris’ unmarried sons still living in Annapolis, who had apprenticed under their father before going out on their own as professional clockmakers & silversmiths, continued to serve as occasional garden labor for their aging father, who was 64 years old in 1792. One son was 27, & the other was 23 in 1792.
The craftsman’s unmarried daughters all helped in the garden, until they left home. Faris first mentioned his youngest daughter’s helping in the garden in 1794, when she was fifteen. His two oldest daughters, unmarried & heavily into the Annapolis social scene, also assisted in Faris’s garden in 1799, when the eldest was 25 & her sister was 24.

Notation of garden work by Faris’s wife, Priscilla, appears only once. In his diary Faris noted that she was usually employed at “woman’s work.” She fed & sewed clothing for her family & helped Faris with his need for extra hands by raising a large family.

British agriculturalist Richard Parkinson & his family rented a farm in Baltimore County for several years at the end of the century before returning to England, where he wrote of his American experiences. Parkinson also noted that his children helped with gardening & farming chores but that his wife did not.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Grapeholly

Grapeholly (Mahonia aquifolium)

As a member of the Barberry family, this shrub was initially known as Berberis aquifolium, before Thomas Nuttall honored Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon by renaming the genus. McMahon was the first nurseryman to successfully grow Oregon Grape-Holly from seeds brought back by Lewis and Clark. 

The great plant explorer, David Douglas, found this plant and a related species, Mahonia repens, during his travels through the Pacific Northwest between 1825 and 1827. He introduced it on a large scale and it was widely cultivated by 1828. This shrub is not attractive to deer.

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Vines in Early American Paintings

Vines in Early American Paintings

Detail. 1772 William Williams (1727-1791). The William Denning Family.
1787 Detail. Salem, North Carolina.
Detail Lewis Miller (1796-1882) Lewis Miller Sketchbook.

During the 18th century, American gardeners trained vines to grow on wooden fences, brick walls, columns, dwellings, arbors, and outbuildings. Vines are plants with supple stems that can climb, trail, or creep which need some support to grow erect. Some are rambling, some twining, and some sprawling.
American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)

Trained climbing vines could supply early American gardeners with some edibles; dramatic decoration; cooling shade; food to attract songbirds; some privacy; & lingering fragrances as well as softening the lines of buildings & screening undesirable views. Fast-growing plants, like the Carolina Trumpet Vine, could offer a relatively quick solution to hide an unsightly area. Climbing vines could break up stiff horizontal and vertical lines. And most of the vines could be found in the surrounding woods.
Balsam Apple (Momordica balsamina)

Among the hardy vines in early American gardens were the Carolina Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla), Virgin's Bower (Celmatis virginiana), honeysuckles, and rambling roses like sweetbriars, treasured for both their fragrant leaves & flowers. The orange, red, & yellow flowers of the Trumpet Honeysuckles (Lonicera sempervirens) are an excellent source of nectar for hummingbirds.
Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Thomas Jefferson grew the lush purple Hyacinth Bean (Dolihos lablab) as well as Scarlet Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus). He called the wonderfully scented Snail Flower or the Caracalla Bean (Vigna caracalla) with its twining stalk, "The most beautiful bean in the world." Philip Miller's 1768 edition of The Gardener's Dictionary noted that in Europe, "the inhabitants plant it to cover arbours and seats in gardens for which it is greatly esteemed...for its beautiful sweet smelling flowers."
Carolina Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans)

Jefferson also grew the Nasturtium (Tropaeloum majus) as both a vegetable & an ornament in 1782. In Bernard M'Mahon's 1806 American Gardener's Calendar, he recommended the Balsam Apple (Momordica balsamina) as a tender annual flower of the "twining sort." Balsam Apple has lobed, glossy-green leaves, delicate tendrils, and soft pale-yellow flowers. But the resulting fruits are anything but delicate spikey yellow-green pods which turn a bright yellow-orange before bursting open with sticky bright red seeds. Jefferson tried this vine in his gardens, along with the Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit), the seeds of which he sent Patsy to grow indoors at Monticello in 1790.
Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit)

My favorite from the period is the Carolina Trumpet Vine. Its 3-inch-long tubular, horn-like, orange flowers are an amazing, defiant show of color blooming throughout the summer. For some garden visitors direct contact with the vine can result in skin irritation. I also enjoy the Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) which keeps it shiny dark green leaves year-round & shows vivid yellow blossoms. A shrubby, vine of moderate growth, jessamine climbs by twining its stem around a supporting structure. The fragrant, tubular, yellow flowers form in clusters during the early spring.
Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla)

Also used in early gardens was American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) whose orange & red berry-like fruits & seeds of are showy and provide winter food for wildlife. The leaves are glossy dark green, oval shaped, and turn yellow before dropping in the fall. Native American Bittersweet vine is often confused with the invasive, weedy pest Oriental Bittersweet, which appears to be reducing the number of American Bittersweet plants.
Hyacinth Bean (Dolihos lablab)
Some theorize that vines were not much used as ornaments in gardens in the colonial & early republic periods of our county's history. Gardens during the 18th-century Age of Reason are thought to be too orderly to tolerate vines. The 19th century would bring in the passionate, vine-filled, romantic garden. But, early American gardeners were intentionally planting vines on their grounds long before the Romantic period.
Nasturtium (Tropaeloum majus)
Early in the 18th century, Robert Beverley reported in in History and Present State of Virginia about the garden at Westover, "Have you pleasure in a Garden?....Colonel Byrd, in his Garden, which is the finest in that Country, has a Summer-House set round with the Indian Honey-Suckle..."
Scarlet Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus)

In 1743, Eliza Lucas Pinckney wrote of William Middleton's Crow-field in South Carolina, "The house stands a mile from, but in sight of the road...as you draw nearer new beauties discover themselves, first the fruitful Vine mantleing up the wall loaded with delicious Clusters..."
Snail Flower Vigna caracalla).

George Washington seemed to enjoy planting vines to soften the look of his covered walkways at Mount Vernon in Virginia. In March of 1785, he noted, "Planted the Scarlet or French honey suckle...at each Column of my covered ways, as also against the circular walls between the Store house."
Sweetbriar Rose

When Manasseh Cutler visited the public pleasure grounds in 1787, Gray's Garden near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he wrote, "At every end, side, and corner, there were summer-houses, arbors covered with vines or flowers or shady bowers encircled with trees and flowering shrubs, each of which was formed in a different taste."
Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens).

Francois Jean Marquis De Chastellux visited Westover many years after Beverley in 1782, noting, "As for the hummingbirds...the walls of the garden and the house were covered with honeysuckle, which afforded an ample harvest for these charming little animals."
Virgin's Bower (Celmatis virginiana).

Several years after planting his honeysuckle vines, George Washington wrote, "I desire that the honey suckles against the Houses and brick walls, may be nailed up and made to spread regularly over them. Should those near the Pillars of the Colanades, or covered ways, be dead, their plants should be supplied with others; as I want them to run up, and Spread over the parts which are painted green." Washington apparently liked the sweet smell of his honeysuckle vines and did not worry about the vine's affect on his wooden columns. Here was a man known to like the tried and true; and his fragrant, familiar honeysuckle provided him with that comfort.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Rough Blazing Star

Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera)

In the wild, the showy Blazing Star or Gayfeather occurs mainly in prairie or open woodland, on dry, stony ground in Eastern and Central North America. This species was collected by Meriwether Lewis near the Charles Mix-Brule County line in South Dakota on September 12th, 1804. 

Liatris are members of the Aster family whose flowers open from the top of the inflorescence downward. The flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, and are good for cutting.

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Labor- Searching for Work

Gardeners Looking for Work in the Mid-Atlantic & South

Independent professional architect and draftsman Peter Chassereau, newly arrived in South Carolina from London, advertised in the Charleston newspaper in January, 1734. "Mr . Peter Chassereau, newly come from London, surveys Lands, and makes near Maps thereof, draws Plans and Elevations of all kind of Buildings whatsoever, both civil and Military, likewise perspective Views or prospects of Towns or Gentlemens Houses or Plantations, he calculates Estimates for Buildings or Repairs, inspects and measures Artificers Works, sets out ground for Gardens or Parks, in a grand and rural manner, and takes Level ; young Gentlemen and Ladys will be attended at their own Houses to be taught Drawing ." He may have been visiting relatives in South Carolina. He would return to York, England and execute plans of towns, country houses, & gardens there.

Gardeners looking for employment began advertising for work in the Mid-Atlantic well before the Revolution. In 1749, a notice in the Maryland Gazette announced, “James Cook, Gardener, from England…performs all Sorts of Gardener’s Work….by the Year.”

Cook initially had come to Annapolis to garden for Provincial Secretary Edmund Jennings four years earlier, as an indentured servant. Cook advertised for independent work as a gardener in 1749 & 1750, but evidently he was less than successful at finding steady employment.

On November 3, 1751, Cook reindentured himself as a gardener, this time to Edmund Jennings’ wife, Catherine. In 1752, the Jenningses attempted to sell the time of the indentured gardener, noting that he was “an extraordinary good Gardener… understands the laying out of new work or anything belonging to a Garden.”

In the 1751 Pennsylvania Gazette, a young man "having serv'd a regular apprenticeship to a gardener in Scotland, having proactised it for several years in England, and is ready to answer any quorum of society of gardeners, in the several brances of gardening" had just arrived from Antigua and was looking for a position as a gardener and foreman over garden labourers for a gentleman in the region. He could be contacted at the London Coffee House in Philadelphia.

In several notices in the South Carolina Gazette during November 1752, John Barnes advertised, “This is to give Notice, to such Gentlemen and others, as have a taste in pleasure and kitchen gardens, that they may depend on having them laid out, leveled, and drained, in the most compleat manner, and politest taste, by the subscriber; who perfectly understands the contriving of all kinds of new works, and erecting wa(ter) works, &c. as fountains, cascades, grottos, &c. Planting)) vineyards and making of wines. As his stay in the province) will be but short (if he does not meet with sufficient en(cou)ragement) he desires those who ware inclined to employ (him) will signify their pleasures as early as possible to him, at Thomas Doughty’s, and they shall be wafted on by JOHN BARNES, Garden Archite(ct). He continued to advertise in Charleston as a garden architect through 1764.

In 1756, William Meyer notified the citizens of Philadelphia that he had opened an employment office, which he called the Office of Intelligence at the sign of the Sun on Moyamensing Road. He stated that "Any merchant incling to emply a person in a midling was of trade" could contact him. In October of 1756, he was looking for a "gardiner." By 1774, the office had moved to Front Street next to the London Coffee House, and was once again looking for a "good Gardener." In the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1782, the Intelligence Office placed a notice that "Clerks, Gardeners, Coachmen...of every description, may enter their names in said Office, after paying Eighteen pence; the same sum is to be paid by persons who are accomodated with servants by means of the Office."

John Watson was an immigrant gardener from England who advertised in the June 12, 1755 South Carolina Gazette, “JUST come from England, a Man that is a good gardener. Any gentleman that has occasion for one, or any planter that would employ him as an overseer, may hear of him by enquiring of the Printer.”

Watson was to become a long-lasting figure in the South Carolina gardening scene. He imported plants and gardening tools for sale. He was still advertising in the Gazette of December 10, 1763, “GARDENING in all its various branches will be done by him, either by the day or year.” He placed a similar ad in the same paper on September 16, 1765, and on February and November 10, 1766.

On April 27, 1767, he placed a notice in the Gazette of his moving. "THE Subscriber returns his most hearty thanks to all his friends who have been pleased to favour him with their custom, and hopes for a continuance thereof, and begs leave to acquaint them that he has removed to the hose known by the name of the Brew House, where he still continues gardening, selling of seeds, tools, fruit-trees, American plants, etc. as formerly.”
Watson was Henry Lauren’s gardener among others. He was the son of James and Jan Watson. Watson’s wife Catherine was buried in St. Phillip’s Parish on June 8, 1782, and he died, in the spring of 1789.

His sons James Mark and John carried on his nursery business until 1802, when John left South Carolina for health reasons. The Charleston Times ran the following notice on April 30, 1802. “The Subscriber BEING obliged to leave the country on account of his bad state of health, offers his handsome retreat for sale-There is on the premises a small Dwelling House, Stable and Fowl House, known to be a part of the Watson’s Gardens. Lot No. 3; in the vicinity of Hampstead. It is well worth the attention of any gentleman wishing a situation of the kind, as there is not for miles equal to it; the land is in the highest state of cultivation, both with vegetables and as complete a Nursery as Carolina can produce. He likewise offers his valuable NEGRO FELLOW, complete gardener and understands perfectly the management of raising, grafting, budding, and pruning of trees-it is unnecessary to mention any particulars about him, as he is well known in this city, JOHN WATSON.”

Thomas Horsey was a Charleston tinsmith & gardener who placed notices in Charleston newspapers in 1765 and 1766 “acquainting his friends and customers” that he had moved from his house on Broad Street and opened a shop on Meeting Street opposite Dr. Alexander Garden's. Horsey was a native of London. Dr. Alexander Garden was one of Charleston’s physicians and botanists before the Revolutionary War. Unlike his neighbor, however, Horsey was sympathetic with the patriot cause and served in the Charleston Militia, after which he returned to live at 4 Guigrand Street.

Virginia also saw independent gardeners searching for work before the war . In 1766, an immigrant placed the following notice in the local paper, “Lately arrived in this colony a young man who professes himself a GARDENER, understanding both flower & kitchen garden…grafting & budding.”
George Renney, an English gardener, advertised in the 1769 Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg “to undertake by the year to keep in order a few gardens at a reasonable price.”
In 1768 “James Callahan, lately from Philadelphia perfectly acquainted with all branches of gardening” advertised for work in the South Carolina Gazette on December 22. Perhaps the cold winters drove Callahan south.

In 1767, Alexander Petrie was advertising in the Savannah Georgia Gazette that, “GENTLEMEN in town or country may have their Gardens made in the neatest manner, or looked after by the year, by their humble servant, ALEXANDER PETRIE, at Mr. O’Connor’s. N.B. Work to be done by the day or piece.”

Apparently, Petrie moved throughout the South offering his gardening services. On December 13, 1783 Petrie placed the following ad in the Richmond Virginia Gazette and Weekly Advertiser, “Alexander Petrie, Gardiner (sic) and Ground-Workman, INTENDS living near this city, to carry on the different branches of his BUSINESS. He will take two or three boys as apprentices, if affable; their masters hay have them taught to any particular branch, as may be agreed on, such as ditching, ground-work, &c necessary to every Gentleman’s plantation, who wishes to improve it. He would be obliged to those Gentlemen who may choose to employ him, to acquaint him of it before the last of this month, that he may procure a number of hands to discharge what work he may undertake with punctuality and satisfaction.”

His name was listed as having an unclaimed letter as the Richmond Virginia Post Office in the Virginia Independent Chronicle of April 16, 1788. But, in October 8, 1796, he was advertising in The Norfolk Herald, Virginia, "ALEXANDER PETRIE, GARDENER, HAS FOR SALE, Asparragras Plants, of the best quality, N.E. Old beds replanted, where the ground is high and dry it is proper to plant this fall; if low and wet to plant in the spring, when the sap is rising."

By March 31, 1798, he had returned to Charleston and was involved in the 1798 Fire. His wife Eliza died in Charleston in 1801, after which nothing more appears about gardener Petrie.

Another professional English gardener immigrating to Charleston, was William Bennett. The May 13 and June 11, 1771 issues of the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, carried the following ad, GARDENING. The Subscriber takes this Method to acquaint the Public, That he will undertake to MAKE, or put in COMPLEAT ORDER, the GARDEN of any Gentleman or Lady in or within Two or three Miles of Charles-Town, at an easy Expence, either by the Day, Year or Quarter, as may best suit them; and can be well recommended by the Gentleman he came out of England with. Enquire at Mr. Harper’s, Taylor, in Church-Street, opposite Thomas Laughton Smith, Esq. WILLIAM BENNETT. Bennet also sold seeds in Charleston during this period.

"A Man who understands Gardening, and Plantation Work" was looking to work in Pennsylvania in 1774, as a gardener & overseer to a gentleman's country seat. As an enticement, the gardener noted that his wife was capable of all kinds of housework and they had no children. In the same year, a single man in Philadelphia "Wants a Place in the Capacity of a Gardener" who was "regularly bred to the Business."

By 1778 in Philadelphia, a man wanting employment in the gardening business advertised that he "understands both building and managing the hot and green huoses, and laying out ground." In the spring of the next year, a man placed a notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette seeking employment and calling himself "A Compleat Gardener."

After the Revolution, most professional gardeners, both those born in the colonies and those immigrating into the new republic from across the Atlantic, began to sell their services aggressively, through newspaper advertisements & personal promotion.

In 1781, Cornelius Heagerty, "Gardener and Nurseryman" advertised that he was available for gardening in & about the city of Philadelphia, for the rest of the season. He would also prune fruit trees of every kind from November 15th through March 15th of the coming winter.

In 1794, the following ad appeared in the Charleston City Gazette, "Wants a place, a French Gardener, from Paris, having been in this Country three or four years, during which time he was greatly improved under the skillful Mr. Michaux, a French botanist...at length, he knows every line of his profession and to conclude he is very well recommended."



An Englishman, John Bryant, advertised as a gardener in the City Gazette and the Daily Advertiser in Charleston on June 6, 1795. “GARDENING. THE subscriber, well acquainted with the European method of gardening, being a native of England, and likewise well acquainted with it in this state, having been in constant practice for some years, takes this method of informing his friends and the public in general that he proposes superintending ladies and gentlemen's gardens in or near the city, whether intended for pleasure or profit. He also plans and lays out gardens in the European taste on moderate terms.”

Bryant also sold seeds, trees and shrubs. On October 4, 1794, he married Jane Thornton in St. Philip’s Parish in Charleston. In 1796 he advertised for an apprentice to help him. “An Apprentice is wanted to the above business, either white or colored. A Lad that is honest and industrious will meet with every encouragement.”

Bryant continued in the gardening and seed business until the fall of 1809, when he died. Jane Bryant, his wife, kept the business going into 1810. The inventory taken at his death included a greenhouse in the garden and pots, shrubs, and trees in the garden valued, at $675.

Michael O’Brien was another gardener advertising for work in the City Gazette and Daily Advertiser on September 8, 1796. "MICHAEL O’BRIEN RESPECTFULLY acquaints the Citizens of Charleston, and its environs, that he proposes to undertake the LAYING OUT OF GARDENS, in all the different branches, comprizing taste and utility. He has been regularly brought up to the above undertaking, and practiced in Europe for many years with great success.”

William Aitkin advertised in the same newspaper on December 7, 1796. “A Gardener. WANTS A PLACE, a regular-bred Gardener. He can be well recommended. A line left for him with the Printers will be duly attended to.” Robert Day advertised as a projector and gardener in the January 9, 1798, issue of the Charleston City Gazette and Daily Advertiser.
One independent gardener searching for work, Luke O‘Dio, wrote to President Thomas Jefferson on June 23, 1801. As proof to Jefferson that he has gardened for notable men, O’Dio stated that he had “done 2 pices of work on the Eastern shore of Maryland & one for a Wm Paca Esqr. Who was once Governor of this state & one for Mr. Chew near the same place.”
Towns such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Annapolis, Richmond & Williamsburg did not hold a monopoly on pleasure gardening in the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South after the Revolution. In the 1790s & early 1800s, gardeners placed notices in the Maryland Herald & Elizabethtown Weekly Advertiser advertising a full range of services to prospective clients in Washington County & Frederick. These gardeners offered to lay out & manage greenhouses, hothouses, kitchen gardens, flower gardens, orchards, nurseries, & pleasure grounds.

Edward Otter was a gardener who arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, from England in 1803. He brought seeds and trees with him and advertised in the Charleston Courier on December 28, 1803 that “He may be found in the Market on the Bay all the forepart of the season, or at the City Hotel. He would contract with any person to lay out ground and plant it.”

Other gardeners & nurserymen publicized themselves & their wares more subtly, by writing books on gardening. Two gardeners who lived in Anne Arundel County at the turn of the century were David Hepburn & John Gardiner.
David Hepburn had been gardener at General John Mason’s estate on Analostan Island in the Potomac River, & at Cedar Park, the seat of Governor Mercer in Anne Arundel County. Cedar Park boasted a deer park, a rare feature on Maryland estates.

Hepburn & Gardiner combined their knowledge with information lifted from English gardening books to write an early American gardening book, The American Gardener, which was published in Washington D.C. in 1804.

French gardeners were still flowing into Charleston, South Carolina, after the War of 1812. French gardener advertised in the December 12, 1818 Courier in Charleston. “Mr. MENANT, Gardener, A PUPIL of Mr. THGUIN, one of the Brothers of Mr. THOUIN, Professor of Culture of the Museum of Natural History of Paris, has the honor to inform the public, that he undertakes to construct all kinds of Terraces, lay out Ornamental Gardens, and attend to the Planting of Fruit Trees and Ornamental Shrubberies. He also arranges the Decorations for Entertainments; and request those persons that wish to employ him, to have the goodness to address themselves to MR. FRANCIS CARMAND, No. 96 Queen-Street, or to Mr. NOISETTE, Botanical Agriculturist, King-street Road.”

Garden History - Trees-Copse

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During the 18th century, a copse was a small area of dense thicket of undergrowth or brushwood or trees often planned in the pleasure ground to add variety to the otherwise open scene. A copse might be planted as a rude surprise in the midst of an otherwise peaceful lawn or meadow as a stimulating interruption.

The small trees or underwood of a copse were often cut to remain open and sometimes for economic or practical purposes of sale or firewood. Sometimes a copse was referred to as a copice or coppice.

Copse of Trees at Gettysburg.

Jedidiah Morse reported in 1789, that at George Washington's Mount Vernon in Virginia, "lands...laid out some what in the form of English gardens, in meadows and grass grounds, ornamented with little copcies, circular clumps and single trees."

In November of 1803, Manasseh Cutler described the grounds around William Hamilton's Woodlands in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, "Between are lawns of green grass, frequently mowed, and at different distances numerous copse of trees."
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Plants in Early American Gardens found by Lewis & Clark - Prairie Blazing Star

Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)

Meriwether Lewis collected the Prairie Blazing Star, also known as Kansas Gayfeather, near Chamberlain in Brule County South Dakota on September 15th, 1804. 

In the wild Liatris, which are members of the Aster family, occur mainly in prairie or open woodland, on dry, stony ground in Eastern and Central United States. The flowers open from the top of the inflorescence downward and are attractive to bees and butterflies and good for cutting.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Garden History - Trees-Bosquet

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A bosket or bosquet is a plantation of trees in a landscaped ground, garden, or park. The term comes from the Italian bosco meaning grove or wood. The term is seldom used before 1820, in early America.

To encourage visitors to walk inside bosquets, in Europe they are traditionally paved with gravel, since maintaining grass under trees is usually difficult.

At Versailles the bosquets are defined by geometrical paths and many contain sculptures & fountains hidden in the trees to surprise the garden visitor. These arrangements of trees are often planted as a quincunx and appear as a formal outdoor room. A bosquet offers both shade from the sun and a chance to see the sunlit spaces of gardens & grounds from shade.

As they mature, the trees of the bosquet form an interlacing and cooling, shady canopy overhead. Trees forming the bosquet are frequently limbed-up to reveal the intriguing and artistic textures and patterns of the tree trunks.

Occasionally, in order to keep the bosquet a defined garden area, perimeter trees were pleached. Pleaching (or plashing) is the practice of bending and inter-twining plants. Pleached trees grow together to form a sort of hedge on stilts.

In Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary of 1737, he defines bosquets as "small Compartments of Gardens...form'd of Trees, Shrubs, or tall large growing plants."

Garden with a Wooded Bosquet Beyond.

In an 1800 Baltimore, Maryland newspaper advertisement in the Federal Gazette, Adrian Valeck's country seat is describes as having "a large garden in the highest state of cultivation, laid out in numerous and convenient walks and squares bordered with espaliers, on which...the greatest variety of fruit trees, the choicest fruits from the best nurseries in this country and Europe have been attentively and successfully cultivated...Behind the garden is a grove and shrubbery or bosquet planted with a great variety of the finest forest trees, oderiferous & other flowering shrubs etc."
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Plants in Early American Gardens - Bare Root Large-leaved Magnolia

Bare Root Large-leaved Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla)

This spectacular but rare North American species is native to Central and Western Florida to Western Louisiana, North to North Carolina and the valley of the Green River, Kentucky. The showy blossoms have a distinctive purple spot at the base of each petal. 

It was discovered in June 1795, while in full flower, by the French naturalist, André Michaux, during his exploration of the Carolina Piedmont regions near Charlotte, North Carolina. This awe-inspiring tree was introduced around 1800 and created quite a sensation in France. The Empress Josephine was among the first to have this magnificent tree in her garden. 

In 1890, Peter Henderson described a 50-year old specimen planted on an estate in Queens, New York: “There is upon this tree every year hundreds of flowers, and it is no less conspicuous in autumn, with its large heads of bright scarlet fruit.”

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello