History Blooms at Monticello - Noir des Carmes Melon

Noir des Carmes Melon (Cucumis melo cv.)

Noir des Carmes Melon is a beautiful and rare French heirloom variety with dark green, deeply ribbed skin and flavorful orange flesh named for the Carmelite monks who preserved them. This true European cantaloupe was mentioned in The Universal Gardener and Botanist by Thomas Mawe and John Abercrombie in 1778.

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Garden History - Design - Grass Plot

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In the second half of the 18th century, Americans tended to use the word plot to refer to a plat or piece of ground of small or moderate size designated for a specific purpose, usually the growing of grass. This became a popular garden design component as beds of fussy flowers faded from popularity among the gentry.

In 1767, according to Deborah Norris Logan, Charles Norris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had his garden, "...laid out in square parterres and beds, regularly intersected by graveled and grasswalks and alleys...with a grass plot and trees in front, and roses intermixed with currant bushes, around its borders." A parterre refers to a formal area of planting, usually square or rectangular.

Charles Carroll of Annapolis instructed his son in 1775, "Examine the Gardiner strictly as to ... Whether he is an expert at levelling, making grass plots & Bowling Greens, Slopes, & turfing them well."

When John Enys visited Mount Vernon in February of 1788, he wrote, "The front by which we entered had a Gras plot before it with a road round it for Carriages planted on each side with a number of different kinds of Trees among the rest some Weeping Willows which seem to flourish very well."

When the fashion changed from planting intricate flower beds to more simple yet elegant, green gardens, Elizabeth Drinker wrote of replanning her garden Philadelphia, "flower roots...were dug out of ye beds on ye south side of our Garden--as my husband intends making grass-plots and planting trees in that side."


Flowers would regain their popularity toward the end of the century, when the midling sort found enough free time to begin pleasure gardens of their own.
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History Blooms at Monticello - Bare Root Twin Leaf

Bare Root Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla)

This rare and desirable native woodland perennial was named to honor Thomas Jefferson in 1792 by the “Father of American Botany,” Benjamin Smith Barton. Jefferson grew the plant at Monticello in one of the oval flowerbeds in 1807. 

The attractive flowers last only a few days, often appearing about the time of Jefferson’s April 13th birthday. Twinleaf is well worth growing for its lush green foliage, which makes a beautiful groundcover for a shaded site. It is easy to grow, but is very slow to propagate and takes 5 to 8 years to bloom from seed. These are nursery-propagated plants.

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History Blooms at Monticello - Rattlesnake Master

Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

An unusual member of the Apiaceae, or Carrot/Parsley family, this Eryngium has a native range from Connecticut south to Florida and west to Minnesota, Kansas, and Texas. Often found in tall grass prairies, the Rattlesnake Master was once used by Native Americans to cure snake bites, as well as other ailments such as venereal disease and kidney disorders. The distinctive flowers have a honey scent and are attractive to bees and butterflies, and the yucca-like foliage provides a nice contrast in flower borders and native plant collections.

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Garden Design - Foundation Plantings

Charles Willson Peale, State House, Annapolis, Maryland, Columbian Magazine, February 1789.

About 20 years ago, the brilliant longtime archivist of our state showed me the print above saying, "Where are all the plantings and gardens?" I just expected that private dwellings and public buildings in the 18th century British American colonies seldom had any plants placed near their foundations. But, perhaps it needs to be noted, for the sake of those who haven't poured over these images for long years.

James Madison's Montpelier, Orange County, Virginia by Baroness Hyde de Neuville. c 1800

Princeton, New Jersey, in 1764

George Washington's Mount Vernon, Virginia, c 1800

Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1786

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Virginia, in 1820s

History Blooms at Monticello - Queen Anne's Pocket Melon

Queen Anne's Pocket Melon (Cucumis melo dudaim)

Queen Anne’s Pocket Melon, also known as Plum-Granny, is an unusual annual trailing plant with highly aromatic, ornamental fruit that has been grown for at least 1000 years. Although possibly named for Queen Anne of England (1702-14), this melon is native to Persia and Linnaeus attributed it to Egypt and Arabia. Legend has it that the ladies of the Queen’s court carried the fragrant melon as a perfumed sachet. While edible, this melon is valued more for its scent than its rather flavorless white flesh. It ripens to orange with lemon-yellow stripes.

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Garden Structures & Ornaments - Daily Care of the Dovecote 1802

The Domestic Encyclopaedia: or, A Dictionary of Facts, and Useful Knowledge by Anthony Florian Madinger Willich. London 1802

"PIGEON-HOUSE, or DoveCote: a structure usually of wood, for the accommodation and rearing of pigeons.

"Dove-cotes ought to be built of a moderate height, and spacious, so that the birds may find sufficient room to fly about them with ease; and, in case they spy an external object which should alarm them, that they can readily escape. In constructing the nests, it will he advisable to interweave wickers, in imitation of those formed by wild pigeons; as they will thus be more easily domesticated, and have no inducement to forsake their habitations.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French Rococo Era Painter, 1725-1805) Girl with Doves 1800

"Should any repairs become necessary in the cote...it will be proper to complete them before the middle of the day; because, if the pigeons be disturbed in the afternoon, they will not rest quietly during the night, and the greater pan will perhaps sit moping on the ground, till the ensuing day. Such unfavourable accidents, in the breeding season, will either occasion the destruction of ninny eggs in embryo; or, if there should be any nestlings, they will consequently be starved.

"In Parkinson's Experienced Farmer, we meet with a remark made by a skillful pigeon-breeder, who cautioned him "against letting the first-flight fly to increase his stock," but advised him to take them without exception; because they will otherwise appear at the Benting season, that is, between seed-time and harvest, when pigeons are very scarce, and many of the young birds would pine to death, from mere weakness.—Pigeons rise early: and, as they require to be supplied with food only during the benting season, it should not be carried to the cote later than three or four o'clock in the morning: for, if it be served after that hour, they will hover restlessly about the house, and thus be prevented from taking their proper exercise. During the greater part of the year, they ought to provide their own food; as they will find abundance in the fields, from the commencement of harvest to the end of the sowing season...those which are constantly fed at home, will not be prolific.

"The utmost cleanliness ought to prevail in pigeon-houses: hence the holes should be carefully examined, before the breeding-season arrives. If any of the young die during the summer, they will speedily become putrid, and emit a disagreeable stench, which is extremely injurious to the inhabitants of the dove-cote: thus, from the insupportable filth, and smell, they are often unwillingly compelled to quit the eggs laid for a second brood; so that the principal part of the season is lost.

"Farther, as pigeons are very liable to be infected with fleas, all the nests ought to be cleaned; and, if it be conveniently practicable, they should be washed out, and the dung, or oilier impurities removed, immediately after the first flight is hatched: this business, however, should, on all occasions, be performed at an early hour in the morning; and the remaining eggs must likewise be removed, so as to render the habitation perfectly clean for the harvest-flight.

"Thus managed, pigeons will thrive and multiply to an uncommon degree; but, as they have a great antipathy to owls, which, sometimes enter their habitations, such intruders must be immediately destroyed, rats, cats, weasels, and squirrels are likewise their mortal enemies, and will speedily depopulate a whole dove-cote. To prevent these depredations, it will be necessary to examine the different avenues to the pigeon-house, regularly once a week, or oftener, and with minute attention.".

History Blooms at Monticello - Strawberry Spinach

Strawberry Spinach (Chenopodium capitatum)

Strawberry Spinach is a heat-loving annual species native throughout North America as well as Europe, where it has been cultivated since the 1600s. It has many common names, including Indian Ink because Native Americans used the juice from the edible fruit as a red dye. The tender, triangular shaped greens can be eaten raw or cooked.

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Garden Design - Topiary from England to Early America

Much Wenlock Priory, Shropshire, England

Sunshine, ruins, topiary...who could ask for more.

18th Century depiction of a gardener clipping

We live near the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Maryland. They were built on a 250 acre estate by Harvey S. Ladew (1887-1976) after 1920. Ladew, who loved to "ride to the hounds," designed topiaries depicting a fox hunt with horses; riders, dogs, & fox clearing a hedge; elegant swans; an exotic giraffe; & even a landlocked Chinese junk with sails.

Ladew Topiary Gardens

A short ride north is a more traditional topiary garden at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In 1700, a Quaker farm family purchased the property from William Penn. Joshua & Samuel Peirce began planting an arboretum on the farm in 1798. By 1850, the site contained one of the finest collections of trees in the nation & one of the first public parks. The farm was purchased in 1906 by Pierre du Pont, so he could preserve the trees; and from 1907 until the 1930s, du Pont created today's gardens, where beauty is as important as scientific botany.

Longwood Gardens

Traveling a few hours further up the Atlantic coast reveals the 100 year old Wellesley, Massachusetts, Hunnewell Arboretum topiary of native American white pine & arborvite.

Green Animals Topiary Gardens

Nearby is the 19th century Green Animals Topiary Gardens in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Columbus, Ohio

For years we drove on Interstate 70 from Maryland to Indiana & back again almost monthly. About midway between, an ambitious 1990s topiary garden at Old Deaf School Park right in downtown Columbus, Ohio, replicates Georges Seurat's painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, consisting of 54 topiary people, 8 boats, 3 dogs, a monkey, a cat, & a pond.

Even a visit to Epcot in Florida with the grandchildren yeilds a topiary dinasour created, one might imagine, by Edward Scissorhands.

Levens Hall in 1833, Cumbria, England

My favorite topiary garden is Levens Hall (see above 1833, see below recent) in Cumbria, England. It was begun in the 17th century & restored in the 20th century. You can just sit on the benches there surrounded by the towering topiary feeling transported to another time & another world. You might even imagine yourself as a lady-in-waiting at Queen Elizabeth's court. In the photo at the beginning of this posting, the grounds at Much Wenlock Priory, a 12th century church, located in Shropshire, England also boast some mature, but less fanciful, topiary.

Levens Hall, Cumbria, England

Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire, England, offers intimate topiary in herbaceous borders in the 20th century Arts and Crafts "rooms" of its garden.

Hidcote Manor, Hidcote Bartrim, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England

Penshurst Palace Kent, England

The more traditional topiary at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, England, and at Drummond Castle Gardens in Perthshire, Scotland, are a review of Versailles with its balls, globes, cubes, obelisks, pyramids, cones, and spirals. Victorian Knightshayes Court in Devon, England, presents some amusing topiary in its gardens.

Cliveden, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England

Drummond Castle, Ochtermuthill, Perthshire, Scotland

Knightshayes Garden, Tiverton, Devon, England

Great Dixter Gardens in East Sussex, England

Harry Potter runs through the great yew topiary gardens at Beckley Park in Oxfordshire, England, in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Even the rugged clifftop Pormeirion in Gwynedd, Wales, overlooking Cardigan Bay, has topiary tucked into its woodland gardens. Go there only if you are in good shape, which I am not.

Beckley Park, Oxfordshire, England

Topiary is the art of creating sculptures using clipped trees and shrubs. For centuries, gardeners commonly have used evergreen, small leaf or needle, compact plants with dense foliage for topiary, including boxwood, arborvitae, bay laurel, holly, myrtle, common yew, and privet.

The term topiary had appeared in England as early as 1592, when it was referred to as "Topiarie woorke." In 1644, John Evelyn recorded in his diary, "There was much topiary worke, and columns in architecture about the hedges." And in 1680 another English work stated, "No topiary Hedge of Quickset Was e're so neatly cut."

In England, Alexander Pope shot and nearly killed figural topiary in his essay on "Verdant Sculpture" in The Guardian of September 1713, which mockingly described in his imaginary topiary-for-sale catalogue:
Adam and Eve in yew;
Adam a little shattered by the fall of the tree of knowledge in the great storm;
Eve and the serpent very flourishing;
The tower of Babel, not yet finished;
St George in box; his arm scarce long enough, but will be in condition to stick the dragon by next April; and
a quickset hog, shot up into a porcupine, by its being forgot a week in rainy weather.

Some of Pope's contemporaries turned from figural topiary, now held in some distain, to clipped hedges. The clipped hedge is a simple form of topiary used to create boundaries, walls or screens in a garden.

In 1729, Sir Thomas Lee married heiress, Elizabeth Sandys and set about to transform the gardens at Hartwell in Buckinghamshire County, England. Nothing in England's American colonies would match these enormous paths of clipped yew hedges, which served as paths for riding and walking; boundries for playing at bowls, and directing the visitor's line of sight from the formal grounds to the surrounding farmland.

By the middle of the 18th century, Charles Bridgeman and William Kent pretty much pruned the English garden clean of clipped hedges, mazes, and topiary. Fashion banned topiary from England's aristocratic gardens, however, it continued to flourish in cottagers' gardens, where balls, cones, and trees with several cleanly separated tiers were meticulously clipped year after year throughout the 19th century.

The term topiary was seldom, if ever, used in 18th century British America. In the designs of formal gardens around personal dwellings and public buildings especially in the first half of the 18th century, the method of clipping yew or other hedging into realistic or fanciful shapes--columns, balls, or obelisks was simply refered to as clipping.

The Sir Christopher Wren Building at the College of William and Mary in Virginia is the oldest college building in the United States. In 1732, Willliam Dawson reported that the garden in front of the Wren Building was, "...planted with evergreens kept in very good order."

Williamsburg, Virginia, Bodleian Plate England 1740

Ten years later, gardener John Custis noted in Williamsburg, "...the balls or standards having heads as big as a peck and the pyramids in full shape...I had very fine yews balls and pyramids which were established for more than 20 years." And in 1777, Ebenezer Hazard reported seeing the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, "At this Front of the College is a large Court Yard, ornamented with Walks, Trees cut into different Forms, & Grass."

By 1736 in Boston, Thomas Hancock on Beacon Hill was writing, "Let me know also what you'l Take for 100 Small Yew Trees in the Rough, which I'd Frame up here to my own Fancy."

In July of 1734, the first notice of hedges appeared in Philadelphia, although we cannot be sure the gardener was clipping his hedges into unusual shapes, was a sad one, when the newspaper reported that, "Jacob Lee, a Gardiner, being overcome with the Heat as he was at work clipping of a Hedge, fell down and expired."

Garden planners in Pennsylvania added hedges clipped into a variety of forms to their garden alley ways. In 1754, at Springettsbury near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ezra Stiles reported, "...passing a long spacious walk, set on each side with trees, on the summit of a gradual

In Alexander Graydon's memoirs, he noted the during the 18th century, Israel Pemberton's country seat near Philadelphia, was, "...laid out in the old fashioned style of uniformity, with walks and allies nodding to their brothers, and decorated with a number of evergreens, carefully clipped into pyramidal and conical forms."
d soon after."

John Bartram, son of Pennsylvania botanist William Bartram, wrote to Peter Collinson in 1740, of the garden at William Byrd's estate in Virginia, "Colonel Byrd is very prodigalle...new Gates, gravel Walks, hedges, and cedars finely twined."
ascent...besides the beautiful walk, ornamented with evergreens...Spruce hedges cut into beautiful figures."

Even artisan gardener & silversmith William Faris in 18th century Annapolis, regularly collected holly trees from nearby woods to plant on his city lot and kept them clipped into the form of sugar cones.

In America, topiary re-emerged with a fervor in Colonial Revival gardens 1880–1920. This continued as interest in restoring gardens around historic sites increased. A topiary maze was planted at the Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg, in the 1930s.

The art of Pearl Fryar

The art of topiary, with its living medium, is alive and well in 21st century America. If you have been reading this blog, you already know that I am drawn to self-taught art. One of the most amazing garden artists alive today is South Carolina's extraordinary, self-taught, outsider topiary artist Pearl Fryar.

View through to the topiary at Hanham Court Garden.

History Blooms at Monticello - Hidasta Red Bean

Hidatsa Red Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv.)

A primary goal of the Jefferson-sponsored Lewis and Clark Expedition was botanical exploration of North America. In 1805 the members of the “Corps of Discovery” spent six winter months at Fort Mandan on the Missouri, near the Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan villages. The Hidatsa Red Bean is prolific; one plant can produce over 100 pods containing 6-8, rose-red beans that are smaller than kidney beans but similar in flavor.

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Location--Eminence

American gentry often were said to have sited their houses on an eminence, a lofty or elevated position on which a dwelling or garden was placed in the 18th century.

In 1733, Willliam Byrd wrote in Virginia, Towards the woods there is a gentle ascent, till your sight is intercepted by an eminence, that overlooks the whole landscape.

The Rev. Mannasseh Cutler viewed, Robert Morris' The Hills near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1780s, giving this report, ...the gardens and walks are extensive, and the villa, situated on an eminence.
From Philadelphia a View of Lemon Hill (the house built on the site of Robert Morris's The Hills) by William Groombridge (1748-1811).

In his 1788 description of the area around Mount Vernon, Virginia, Enys noted, The Hills around it are covered with plantations some of which have Elegant houses standing on them all of which being situated on Eminences form very beautiful Objects for each Other.
View across the Potomac River from the porch at Mount Vernon.

Thomas Anbury wrote of the Virginia house he was visiting early in 1789, The house that we reside in is situated upon an eminence.

William Loughton Smith wrote in his journal on April 21, 1791, of Governor John Eager Howard's Belvedere in Baltimore, Maryland, The main street is a mile in length...and ascends gradually to a fine plain above the Town, which was intended for the seat of Congress had Baltimore been chosen. This land belongs to Colonel, now Governor Howard...From the brow of the eminence... is a grand prospect back of the city
Cartographer Charles Varle & Engraver Francis Shallus, Warner and Hann's "Plan of the City and Environs of Baltimore, Respectfully didecated to the Mayor, City Council & Citizens thereof by the Proprietors," 2nd edition (Baltimore, 1801; 1st 1799, drawn in 1797).

A few years earlier, in January, 1788, Lt. John Enys reported on Governor John Eager Howard's Belvedere at Baltimore, Maryland, ...here are some very Charming propects from some of the Hills, among the best from the Seat of Colol. Howard which is situated on an eminence but is well covered by trees from all the cold winds, has a charming view.

Duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Francois, visiting in 1795, described William Hamilton's Woodlands in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Woodlands...stands high, and is seen upon an eminence.
Isaac L. Williams. The Woodlands in 1880. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Bernard M'Mahon wrote in The American Gardener's Calendar in 1806, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ...regular terraces either on natural eminences of forced ground were often introduced... for the sake of prospect.. being ranged single, others double, treble, or several, one above another, on the side of some considerable rising ground in theatrical arrangement. ...walls or other fences may not obstruct any desirable prospect either of the pleasure fields or the adjacent country.

History Blooms at Monticello - Bare Root Strawberry Bush

Bare Root Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americana)

Thomas Jefferson listed the “Evergreen spindle-tree” as an ornamental shrub in his only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia. 

This North American shrub is desirable for its showy fruits, broom-like evergreen stems, and glossy green leaves, which turn yellow-green or sometimes red in fall. It was one of the first New World plants to be introduced to Europe and Britain in 1683. The European Euonymous, or spindle tree, was so-named for the four-sided branches, which were used to make spindles. Bernard McMahon also called it “Evergreen Spindle-tree” in The American Gardener’s Calendar, 1806.

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18C Garden Location - Prospect

A prospect was an extensive view out into the landscape, which, as we learned in an earlier posting Location, Location, Location, many colonial gentry felt was important to consider when picking a site for a dwelling or garden in the 18th century American landscape.

For unparalleled enthusiasm for the beauty of the colonial American countryside, my favorite quote for this term is by Thomas Hancock (1702-1764) of Boston, The Kingdom of England don't afford so Fine a Prospect as I have.
View of the Hancock House in Boston near the State House.

The full quote of Thomas Hancock in Massachusettes, in 1736, was My Gardens all Lye on the South Side of a hill, with the most Beautifull Assent to the Top & it is Allowed on all hands the Kingdom of England don't afford so Fine a Prospect as I have both of Land and water.

Years later, British Lt. John Enys wrote of Governor Hancock's house in 1787, ...there are a number of houses situated on Beacon hill which stand high...elegant prospects particularly at high water. That of Governor Hancock stands the most conspiculus just at the top of the common with a full view of the Mall before it besides its distant views of the harbour and adjacent country.

In 1733, Willliam Byrd wrote of his view when approaching a house in Virginia, There is scarce a shrub in view to intercept your prospect, but grass as high as a man on horseback.

In the South Carolina Gazette in 1734, a notice was placed for property for sale in Charleston, South Carolina,To Be Let or Sold...on an island (with)...an entire prospect of the Harbor.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney wrote in 1743, of William Middleton's Crow-Field in South Carolina near Charleston, ...a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle -- the top of which is level with the dwelling house and upon it is a roman temple. On each side of this are other large fish ponds properly disposed which form a fine prospect of water from the house.
Crowfield Lake in South Carolina.This description by Eliza Lucas Pinckney has proved quite accurate. An archaeological study conducted at Crowfield in the 1980's located most of the landscape and garden elements described in her letter.

In 1749, the South Carolina Gazette of Charleston noted, Belonging to Alexander Gordon...From the house Ashley and Cooper rivers are seen, and all around are visto's and pleasant prospects.

In the same year, but much further north, Peter Kalm wrote of the College of Jesuits in Quebec, Canada, The afternoon I visited...the priests...They have a great house, built of stone... a fine garden ...the prospect from hence is the finest in Quebec.

Hannah Callender wrote in her diary in 1762, of William Peters' Belmont near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, A broad walk of English cherry trees leads down to the river. The doors of the house opening opposite admit a prospect of the length of the garden over a broad gravel walk to a large handsome summer house on a green...One avenue gives a fine prospect of the city.
View of Philadelphia from Belmont "a fine prospect of the city" by August Kollner in 1878.

In 1773, Josiah Quincy wrote in his journal while visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dined with the celebrated Pennsylvania Farmer, John Dickenson Esqr, at his country seat about two and one-half miles from town...his gardens, green-house, bathing-house, grotto, study, fish pond...vista, through which is distant prospect of Delaware River.

New England tutor Philip Vickers Fithian wrote of Mount Airy in Virginia, in 1774, He has also a large well formed, beautiful Garden, as fine in every Respect as any I have seen in Virginia...From this House there is a good prospect of the River Rapahannock, which opposite here is about two miles across.  The land where Mount Airy is situated was owned by the Tayloe family of Virginia for over 100 years when Colonel John Tayloe II, a 4th generation tobacco planter, began construction of the house. The project was started around 1748 with completion in 1758.

Mount Airy in Virginia. Mount Airy owns a commanding view of the Rappahannock River valley perched upon a small hill looking westward towards the town of Tappahannock, which was founded in 1608 by Captain John Smith.

President John Adams noted in his diary in 1777, of William Lux's Chatsworth in Baltimore, Maryland, The seat is named Chatsworth, and an elegant one it is -- the large garden enclosed in lime and before the yard two fine rows of large cherry trees which lead out to the public road. There is a fine prospect about it. Mr. Lux lives like a prince. The grounds included an enclosed 164 ' by 234' terraced garden which fell toward the Baltimore harbor.
William Lux's Chatsworth in Baltimore, Maryland. By the time this map was drawn, Lux's estate had been sold and had become a public pleasure garden called Gray's Gardens. Map detail fromCartographer Charles Varle & Engraver Francis Shallus, Warner and Hann's "Plan of the City and Environs of Baltimore, Respectfully dedicated to the Mayor, City Council & Citizens thereof by the Proprietors," 2nd edition (Baltimore, 1801; 1st 1799, drawn in 1797).

Ebenezer Hazzard wrote from Stafford, Virginia in 1777, The Steel Manufactory is situate on a high Hill which commands a beautiful and extensive Prospect.

The Rev. Mannasseh Cutler viewed Robert Morris' The Hills near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1780s, giving this report, ...the gardens and walks are extensive, and the villa...has a...prospect down the Schuylkill.
Lemon Hill, earlier The Hills, in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia.

From 1770 to 1799, Lemon Hill was known The Hills, home of Robert Morris, Declaration signer & a major financier of the Revolution. He later went bankrupt from over-the-top land speculation; and Philadelphia merchant Henry Pratt purchased his property at a sheriff's sale in 1799. The present house was built in that year. Pratt planted lemon trees in Morris's surviving greenhouse & the estate became known as Lemon Hill.

In 1783, at Westover on the James River in Virginia, Thomas Lee Shippen noted, an extensive prospect of James River and of all the Country and some Gentlemen's seats on the other side.
Westover after the Civil War in 1869. Corcoran, Washington, D.C.

The next year, Enys wrote of Governor John Eager Howard's Belvedere at Baltimore, Maryland, ...here are some very Charming prospects from some of the Hills, among the best from the Seat of Colol. Howard...a full View of the town of Baltimore and the Point with the shipping in the harbour, the Bason and all the Small craft, with a very distant prospect down the river towards the Chesapeake Bay. The whole terminated by the surrounding Hills forms a fine Picture.
The park just outside Governor John Eager Howard's Belvedere in Baltimore, Maryland, where visitors could stroll and take advantage of the view down to the Baltimore harbor. 1828. Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore.

Englishman Thomas Twining wrote in 1788, of visiting Governor John Eager Howard's Belvedere in Baltimore, Maryland, I walked this morning to breakfast with Colonel Howard at Belvidere... Situated upon the verge of the descent upon which Baltimore stands, its grounds formed a beautiful slant towards the Chesapeake...The spot, thus indebted to nature and judiciously embellished, was as enchanting with in its own proper limits as in the fine view which extended far beyond them. The foreground presented luxurious shrubberies and sloping lawns: the distance, the line of the Patapsco and the country bordering on Chesapeak Bay. Both the perfections of the landscape, its near and distant scenery, were united in the view from the bow-window of the noble room in which breakfast was prepared, with the desire, I believe, of gratifying me with this exquisite prospect.

Thomas Anbury wrote of the Virginia house he was visiting early in 1789, The house that we reside in...(has) a prospect of near thirty miles around it.

In 1790, William Bentley recorded in his diary about Saltonstall Seat in Haverhill, Massachusettes, the elegant Seat...has about 30 acres of land, an ancient row of Elms, and Buttons, and most engaging Prospect of the River and adjacent country.

In 1793, Patrick Campbell wrote of Mr. McIntyre's house at Albany, New York, I went along with Mr. McIntyre from Albany to his house...we ascended a high hill...which commands a fine prospect of the country all around.

Duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Francois, visiting in 1795, described William Hamilton's Woodlands in Philadelphia, Woodlands ...commands an excellent prospect, but is not to be admired for anything else...in an adjoining hot house Mr. Hamilton rears plants procured at great expence from all parts of the world.
The Woodlands by William Strickland after William Birch, ca. 1809.

In 1799, Isaac Weld passed through Washington, D. C. and noted of the White House, The house for the residence of the president...is situated on a rising ground not far from the Patowmac, and (has) a most beautiful prospect of the river, and of the rich country beyond it.
Detail of the White House in an 1820 painting of Washington City, by Baroness Hyde Neuville.

In 1804, at Monticello in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote, The ground between the upper & lower roundabouts to be laid out in lawns & clumps of trees, the lawns opening so as to give advantageous catches of prospect to the upper roundabout. Vistas from the lower roundabout to good portions of prospect walks in this style [diagram], winding up the mountain.
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in the Virginia hills above Charlottesville in 1826.

Bernard M'Mahon wrote in The American Gardener's Calendar in 1806, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ...regular terraces either on natural eminences of forced ground were often introduced... for the sake of prospect.

Many visitors commented on the prospect at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Andrew Burnaby wrote in 1759, of Mount Vernon, The house is most beautifully situated upon a very high hill on the banks of the Potomac; (with)...a noble prospect of water, of cliffs, of woods, and plantations.
Mount Vernon by J Wiess in 1797, two years before George Washington's death.

In 1788, at Mount Vernon, Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville noted, This house overlooks the Potomack, enjoys an extensive prospect.
Birdseye view of Mount Vernon.

In the same year, Enys also visited Mount Vernon and wrote, The front by which we entered had a Gras plot before it with a road round it for Carriages planted on each side with a number of different kinds of Trees among the rest some Weeping Willows which seem to flourish very well. One the one side of this stands the Garden, green house &c. From hence is one of the most delightful prospects I ever beheld.
View of Mount Vernon walking up the hill from the Potomac River.

William Loughton Smith recorded in his journal about Mount Vernon which sits south of Alexandria, Virginia, I hardly remember to have been so struck with a prospect...the view extends up and down the river a considerable distance, the river is about two miles wide, and the opposite shore is beautiful...embracing the magnificence of the river with the vessels sailing about; the verdant fields, woods, and parks.
Mount Vernon from the Potomac River.

John Foster Augustus described Mount Vernon, in 1813, Stands on the brow of a steep bank that overhangs the Potomac, of which there is a fine extensive prospect from the lawn.