Garden Design - Outbuildings - Storage Cellars for Vegetable Roots, Fruits, & Alcohol

Root Cellars in Early America

A root cellar (American English) or an earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground or built into the side of a hill allowing them to be at least partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, alcoholic drinks or other foods. The traditional focus was on root crops stored in an underground cellar. References to storage cellars in the British American colonial period were often for storage areas for home-made alcohol.

Root cellars were intended to keep food supplies at a steady cool temperatures & fairly constant humidity. Root cellars kept food from freezing during the winter & cool during the summer to prevent the spoiling & rotting of the roots, such as potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips, turnips, etc. Typically vegetables were placed in the root cellar in the autumn after harvesting

There are several references to root cellars in early records in British colonial America. A cellar was a space used for storage, usually of roots as well as vegetables & fruits & drinks made from them over-winter, which could be located above ground, or partially submerged, or entirely submerged.  Most root cellars were part of a building, but some were constructed as detached storage areas sheltered with roofs.  These separate storage buildings were often called cellar houses. Sometimes spelled as celler, sellar, & seller in 17C & 18C references, they were also called storerooms and storehouses.

1643 in Surry County, Virginia a contract noted, "a framed house conteyning forty five foot in lengthy and twenty foot in breadth...and a cellar adjoining to it also of fifteen foot square."

1694 in York County, Virginia, an advertisement for "English framed dwelling house with a good cellar under it."

1708 The Boston News-Letter carried an ad for "a Convenient Dwelling House having a Cellar, Low Room, Chamber, and Garret."
                

1713 At St Peter's Parish in New Kent County, Virginia, the vestry ordered a new glebe house with "a seller three feet in the ground and three feet above."

May 30, 1715 In The Boston News-Letter, a Gentleman offered to sell "fine, bottl'd Sydar" (cider) from his "Sydar Cellar" for 3 pence per quart.
                

1718  Court records in Richmond County, Virginia, mentioned a plantation with "a cellar with a good roof over it."

1735 The South Carolina Gazette. January 11, 1735, advertised for sale, "good planting Land, containing 150 Acres...with a convenient Brick Dwelling-house 40 feet long & 30 wide, and good Cellars below."

1741 The South Carolina Gazette.  April 9, 1741, reported a storm during which, The Waters rose up to the Gate of Robert Lesly, Esq; and came into his Cellar and fill'd it, and carried the Liquors off their Stillings, and damnified all Things in it, and is still full of Water.

In 1743, Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard's Almanac about using cellars to store wine. "Begin to gather Grapes from the 10th of September (the ripest first) to the last of October, and having clear'd them of Spider webs, and dead Leaves, put them into a large Molosses- or Rum-Hogshead; after having washed it well, and knock'd one Head out, fix it upon the other Head, on a Stand, or Blocks in the Cellar."   

A description of the historic 3-acre serpentine, brick-walled gardens at Barboursville is provided in the book, Historic Gardens of Virginia, printed in 1923. Caroline Coleman Duke describes: The original garden covered nearly three acres, and was entirely surrounded by the serpentine wall of red brick…With Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other distinguished neighbors, the garden at Barboursville was not infrequently the scene of merriment; nor did they need the local moonshine to give snap and sparkle to these occasions, for the cellars near by were amply stocked with imported liquors, and mint flourished in every nook and cranny, so no guest ever left Barboursville without at least one sip of the favorite beverage of old Virginians.

1748 The South Carolina Gazette. July 25, 1748, noted, "A very good Shop on the Bay, a good Cellar , and a well furnish'd lodging Room, to be lett."

1763 The South Carolina Gazette. April 30, 1763, advertised for sale a "plantation on James-Island, lately belonging to William Henperson, situated on Wappoe-Creek, about four miles from Charles-Town, containing 263 acres...a good two story dwelling-house with piazzas and good dry cellars."

1766 The Virginia Gazette. August 22, 1766, advertised for sale in "Cumberland, County...636 acres, with... a large dwelling-house, with...a good cellar, and underpinned; a large kitchen, with two rooms... a large garden, with sundry kinds of medicinal roots and plants."

The Virginia Gazette. November, 13 1766, noted, "A SPECIOUS BRICK HOUSE, upwards of 50 feet in length, with 4 rooms below and 3 above, and a good cellar under the same in 3 apartments, together with a storehouse and counting room under the same roof... in the town of Smithfield."

The specific term "root cellar" does not come into common use until about 1767, when an ad in the The New-York Journal, or General Advertiser in March offered for sale a house on Corlear's Hook which had a "root cellar 22 feet by 11 feet, stoned up all around."   

 1768 The Pennsylvania Gazette. January 21, 1768, advertised for sale in "Allentown...a large commodious well finished dwelling house, with a kitchen and store, having extraordinary good cellars under them, a garden adjoining, with a variety of roots and flowers."

1782 The Pennsylvania Gazette. October 9, 1782, advertised in "Hartford Town, Maryland, an excellent brick dwelling house, accommodated with...excellent garden, abounding with useful roots and flowers. The house is large, and every way convenient, with cellars under the whole."

In October 28, 1771, The New-York Gazette; and the Weekly Mercury advertised a farm for sale on York Island on the Hudson River with about 300 apple trees and a good "root cellar."

On April 6, 1784, the New Brunswick, New Jersey, Political Intelligencer offered a farm with "a very excellent garden, well paled in, with a root cellar at the bottom."  

In 1797 New York City, The Minerva, & Mercantile Evening Advertiser advertised for rent on Broadway, "A Room suitable for an office...with an excellent, dry root cellar."

Annapolis, Maryland, silversmith and avid gardener William Faris (1728-1804) used pots to store his fragile plants away from the Annapolis winters, dutifully recording in his diary each year, “I moved the Potts into the seller for the Winter.”  Sometimes he euphemistically referred to his cellar as “the greenhouse.”

In the 1790s, Samuel Deane wrote in his New England Farmer of his method of preserving Winter apples, "I gather them about noon on the day of the full of the moon which happens in the latter part of September, or beginning of October. Then spread them in a chamber, or garret, where they lie till about the last of November. Then, at a time when the weather is dry, remove them into casks, or boxes, in the cellar, out of the way of the frosts; but I prefer a cool part of the cellar. With this management, I find I can keep them till the last of May, so well that not one in fifty will rot...In the Autumn of 1793, I packed apples in the shavings of pine, so that they scarcely touched one another. They kept well till some time in May following; though they were a sort which are mellow for eating in December. Dry sawdust might perhaps answer the end as well. Some barrel them up, and keep them through the Winter in upper rooms, covering them with blankets or mats, to prevent freezing. Dry places are best for them."

Root cellars were also mentioned often in Bernard M'Mahon's 1806 American Gardener's Calendar. published B. Graves, no. 40, North Fourth-Street, Philadelphia.  Following are M'Mahon's observations on the use of root cellars in the New Republic.

Broccoli. In the middle and eastern states, where the frost is too powerful, for the standing out of these plants during winter, on its approach, they must be taken up, and planted in earth up to their leaves, either in CELLARS, or under sheds, where they can be protected from wet and very rigorous frosts, and they will continue to produce their fine heads, during all the winter months ; which are equal to any cauliflowers. On the opening of spring, plant out the stalks of the purple kind, and they will produce abundance of the most delicious sprouts; the white, do not answer for that purpose. These plants even if hung up in a CELLAR, would shoot forth their flowers or heads, pretty much about their usual time. 1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Asparagus...you may, on the approach of severe frosts, take up a sufficient quantity with as little injury to the roots as possible, which may be planted in sand or dry earth in a warm CELLAR, in the same man-, ner as directed for planting them in the frame, covering their crowns about an inch, observing not to croud the plants for fear of their becoming mouldy; and in mild weather ventilate the CELLAR as often as possible, to prevent any bad effect to the roots from stagnant air: but when it can be done, it will be much better to take up the plants out of their beds according as you want them. 1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Wine
The different pressings being mixed as you think proper, should be immediately put into clean casks or hogsheads, placed in a warm room or dry CELLAR, and filled to within two inches of the bungholes, which should be covered with pieces of cloth, laid loosely on, to prevent dirt from falling into the liquor.
When the 1iquor is drawn into clean sweet casks, place them in the CELLAR, fill them up within an inch or two of the top, and lay a piece of leather with a small weight on it over each bung-hole that may yield to a second fermentation, which generally takes place. When the wine has sealed or ceased to ferment, bung the casks as close as possible, and the subsequent treatment is exactly the same as directed for white wines. A wine CELLAR should be dry, so deep under ground as that the temperature of it heat, may be nearly the same winter and summer: it should be at a distance from streets, highways, workshops, sewers and necessaries; if arched over, the better. 1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Fruits
According as the fruits are gathered, carry them into the fruitery, or into some convenient dry, clean, apartment, and lay them carefully in heaps, each sort separate, for about ten days, or two weeks, in order that the watery juices may transpire; which will make them keep longer, and render them much better for eating, than if put up finally as soon as pulled.

When they have lain in heaps that time, wipe each fruit, one after another, with a clean, dry cloth, and if you have a very warm dry CELLAR, where frost is by no means likely to enter, nor the place subject to much dampness; lay them singly, upon shelves, coated with dry straw, and cover them with a layer'of the same.

Another method, and a very good one, is to be provided with a number of large earthen jars, and a quantity of moss, in a perfectly dry state; and when the fruits are wiped dry as befort directed, your jars being also dry, lay therein layer about of fruit and moss, till the jars are near full, then cover with a layer of moss.

Suffer them to remain in this state for eight or ten days, then examine a stratum or two at the top to sec if the moss and fruits are perfectly dry; and if you find them in a good condition, stop the jars up with good cork plugs, and cover them with some melted rosin to keep out air. The pears and apples to be used this way should be of the latest and best keeping kinds, and such as are not, generally, fit for use till February, March, or April.

After the jars are sealed as above, place them in a warm dry CELLAR or room on a bed of perfectly dry sand, at least one foot thick ; and about the middle of November, or sooner if there is any danger to be apprehended from frost, fill up between the jars with very dry sand, until it is a foot thick round and over them. Thus you may preserve pears in the greatest perfection, for eight, or nine months, and apples twelve.

Be particularly careful to examine every fruit as you wipe it, lest it is bruised, which would cause it soon to rot and communicate the infection, so that in a little time much injury might be sustained, in consequence of a trifling neglect in the first instance: but above all things, place your fruit whatever way they are put up, completely out of the reach of frost. 1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Preserving Cabbages and Borecole, for Winter and Spring use.
Immediately previous to the setting in of hard frost, take up your cabbages and savoys, observing to do it in a dry day; turn their tops downward and let them remain so for a few hours, to drain off any water that may be lodged between the leaves; then make choice of a ridge of dry earth in a well sheltered warm exposure, and plant them down to their heads therein, close to one another, having previously taken off some of their loose hanging leaves. Immediately erect over them a low temporary shed, of any kind that will keep them perfectly free from wet, which is to be open at both ends, to admit a current of air in mild dry weather. These ends are to be closed with straw when the weather is very severe. In this situation your cabbages will keep in a high state of preservation till spring, for being kept perfectly free from wet as well as from the action of the sun, the frost will have little or no effect upon them. In such a place the heads may be cut off as wanted, and if frozen, soak them in spring, well, or pump water, for a few hours previous to their being cooked, which will dissolve the frost and extract any disagreeable taste occasioned thereby. 1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Some plant their cabbages, after being taken up and drained as above, in airy or well ventillated CELLARS, in earth or sand up to their heads, where they will keep tolerably well, but in close, warm, or damp CELLARS, they soon decay.

Others make a trench in dry sandy ground, and place the cabbages therein, after being well drained and dry, and most of their outside loose green leaves pulled off, roots upward, the heads contiguous to, but not touching each other; they then cover them with the dryest earth or sand that can be conveniently procured, and form a ridge of earth over them like the roof of a house; some apply dry straw immediately'round the heads, but this is a bad practice, as the straw will soon become damp and mouldy, and will of course communicate the disorder to the cabbages.

Upon the whole the first-method is in my opinion the most preferable, as there is no way in which cabbages will keep better, if preserved from wet; and besides, they can be conveniently obtained, whenever they are wanted for use

The green and brown curled borecole being very hardy, will require but little protection; they may now be taken up and planted in a ridge tolerably close together, and during severe frost covered lightly with straw, this will preserve them sufficiently, and during winter the heads may be cut off as they are wanted for use; the stems if taken up and planted in rows, as early in March as the weather will admit, will produce abundance of the most delicious sprouts. In the southern states, and even in warm, soils and exposures in the middle states, borecole will stand the winter in open beds without any covering whatever.  1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Cauliflowers and Broccoli
Your late cauliflowers, and broccoli, will now be producing their heads; therefore it will be necessary to break down some of the largest leaves over the flowers, to preserve them from the effects of sun, rain, and frost.

Italian Botanical Print

Such plants of either sort as are not likely to flower before the commencement of severe frost, should be taken up and planted as recommended in the first instance for cabbages, where if roellprotected from wet and frost, they will continue to produce fine flowers all winter. Or they may be planted in a dry warm CELLAR in the same manner as directed for cabbages, where they will also flower in winter; indeed I have had tolerable good flowers from strong plants. 1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Preserving Turnips, Carrots, Parsneps, Beets, and Salsafy.
Previous to the commencement of severe frost, you should take up with as little injury as possible, the roots of your turneps, carrots, parsneps, beets, salsafy, scorzonera, Hamburg or large rooted parsley, skirrets, Jerusalem artichokes, lurnep-rooted celery, and a sufficiency of horse-radish for the winter consumption; cut off their tops and expose the roots for a few hours till sufficiently dry. On the surface of a very dry spot of ground in a well sheltered situation, lay a stratum of sand two inches thick, and on this a layer of roots of either sort, covering them with another layer of sand (the drier the better) and so continue layer about of sand and roots till all are laid in, giving the whole on every side a roof-like slope; then cover this heap or ridge all over with about two inches of sand, over which lay a good coat of drawn straw up and down as if thatching a house, in order to carry off wet and prevent its entering to the roots; then dig a wide trench round the heap and cover the straw with the earth so dug up, to a depth sufficient to preserve the roots effectually from frost. An opening may be made on the south side of this heap, and completely covered with bundles of straw so as to have access to the roots at all times, when wanted either for sale or use...All these roots may be preserved in like manner in a CELLAR; but in such a place they are subject to vegetate and become stringey earlier in spring. The only advantage of this method is, that in the CELLAR they may be had when wanted, more conveniently during winter, than out of the field or garden heaps. Note. All the above roots will preserve better in sand than in common earth, but when the former cannot be bad, the sandiest earth you can procure must be dispensed with.  1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Celery, Endive, and Cardcons
Continue during the early part of this month to blanch your Celery, endive and cardoons, as directed in the preceding months; but when the severe frosts approach, they must be preserved therefrom, either in the following or some other more convenient and effectual manner.

Every third row of the celery may be suffered to stand where growing, opening a trench on each side of every standing row, within six or eight inches thereof, for the reception of the plants of the other two rows, which are to be carefully taken up with as little injury as possible either to their tops or roots, and planted in those new trenches, in the same order as they formerly stood. The whole being thus planted, three rows together, they are to be earthed up near the extremities of their leaves, and as soon as the frost becomes pretty keen, in a very dry day cover the whole with straw, and over this a good coat of earth.

When this plan is intended, the celery should in the first instance be planted in rows, east and west, so that when the whole is covered for winter use as above, the south side, especially if protected a little with straw, &c. may be easily opened to take out the plants when wanted for use.

Or if you have the convenience of a deep garden-frame, you may almost fill it with fresh sand, and then take up and plant therein, so close as nearly to touch one another, a quantity of your best and largest celery, and so deep as to be covered within five or six inches of their tops; place on yeur glasses, immediately, and suffer neither rain or water to reach the plants, except a very gentle shower, occasionally, in warm weather.

When severe frosts set in, lay dung, tan, leaves of trees, or other litter round the sides and ends of the frame, and cover the glasses with mats, be. sp as to keep out the frost. By this means you can have celery during winter in the greatest perfection and as convenient as you could desire.

Or celery may now be taken up when dry, well aired, and planted in sand in a dry CELLAR, in the same manner as directed for planting it in the frame; observing, in either case, to lay up the stalks and leave neat and close, and to do as little injury to either as possible.

The beds of celery which were planted as directed in page 433, should, in the early part of this month, be earthed up to within six or eight inches of the tops of the plants, tnd on the approach of hard frost, additionally earthed to the very extremities of their leaves; then lay a covering of dry sandy earth on the top of each bed, the whole iength, so as to give it a rounding; on this, place a coat of dry straw, drawn and laid on advantageously to cast off the wet, and of a sufficient thickness to effectually resist the frost; after which cut a trench round the bed to carry off and prevent any lodgement of water. Here you can have access to your celery, and it will continue in a high state of preservation during the whole winter and early spring months.

Endive may be preserved in a frame, or CELLAR, as directed for celery.

Cardoons may be preserved either in sand in a CELLAR, or by banking up a sufficiency of earth to them where they grow, and covering the tops, &c. with straw or long litter.

N. B. All the above work must be performed in dry weather and when the plants are perfectly free from wet, otherwise they will be very subject to rot.  1806 American Gardener's Calendar.

Other food supplies placed in the root cellar during winter included beets, jarred preserves & jams, winter squash, & cabbage. A cellar intended for potatoes was sometimes called a potato house.

Water, bread, butter, milk, & cream were sometimes stored in the root cellar. Before refrigeration, other items such as salad greens, fresh meat, & jam pies were sometimes placed in the root cellar early in the day to keep cool until they were needed for supper.

It is reported that crawlspaces, sheds, & attics have all been used successfully over the centuries for storage of certain crops. Even the space under a bed could store some crops (such as pumpkins) for several weeks. 

Author's Notes - At a Virginia apple orchard that we owned in the 1960-70s; we encountered separate cellars used for storing fruits, such as apples which can hasten the aging of other items stored in the same root cellar. Apparently Ben Franklin craved American apples while living in London. As well coining the phrase “An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away,” Franklin consistently asked his wife Deborah to ship him barrels of apples while he lived abroad. In a letter from Franklin in London, to Deborah in Philadelphia he wrote: “Goodeys I now & then get a few; but roasting Apples seldom, I wish you had sent me some; & I wonder how you, that used to think of everything, came to forget it.  Newton Pippins would have been the most acceptable.” 

When we moved into an early 19C home with a springhouse in the Chesapeake, we learned that some dwellings with springhouses often used them for root cellar storage (as well as milk-house duty).

Garden to Table - Ben Franklin On Tofu & Soybeans in 1770

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) c 1767 by David Martin (1736-1798)

 Rae Katherine Eighmey, author of the colonial kitchen odyssey Stirring the Pot With Benjamin Franklin, writes that when he was in North America, “He tromped—literally tromped—from Canada to Florida seeking new and unusual plants, which he would then package up and send to people in England.” And not just anyone, Eighmey says, but “the social folks, and the scientifically inclined people”—the cream of the crop.

The earliest document, known at this time, in which an American mentions tofu is a letter written by Benjamin Franklin (who was then living in London) to John Bartram in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 11, 1770. 

He sent Bartram some soybeans (which he called "Chinese caravances") & with them he sent "Father Navarrete's account of the universal use of a cheese made of them in China, which so excited my curiosity, that I caused enquiry to be made of Mr. [James] Flint, who lived many years there, in what manner the cheese was made, & I send you his answer. I have since learned that some runnings of salt (I suppose runnet) is put into water, when the meal is in it, to turn it to curds...These...are what the Tau-fu is made of."

Spanish missionary & archbishop Domingo Fernández Navarrete (1610-1689), was the Dominican who Franklin refers to “Father Navaretta” in his letter from London to Bartram back in Pennsylvania. Navarrete taught theology at the Dominican University of St. Thomas, Manilla, before he left for a mission to China in 1657. Navarrete visiting Asia, “learned about all the ‘strange things people in China eat." The monk's mendicant’s logs, & discoveries were published in Spanish in 1676. Among these was a method for preparing a popular Chinese foodstuff, which Navaretta termed “teu-fu.” 

Navarrate was highly respected by Pope Innocent XI (1611-1689), who wanted to appoint him bishop of the Chinese missions; but, Navarrete refused. In 1676, Navarrete's book, Tratados historicos, politicos, ethicos, y religiosos de la monarchia de China was initially published in Madrid. It was translated into most major European languages. It became particularly popular in England, where Franklin encountered it decades later. On Navarrate's return to Spain in 1677, the Pope, at the suggestion of Charles II, forced him to accept the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo in the West Indies, where he died after a decade working for the welfare of the people, particularly of its slave population. 

Wash Garden Design - Fences at Courtyards & Private Homes

In 1777, in his Virginia letter book, George Braxton recorded, "I agreed with Alexander Oliver Gardener to make a Court yard before my Door according to Art."
Courtyard at Mount Vernon in Virginia.

In his diary for August 30, 1785, at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington reported that the workers had" Finished gravelling the right hand Walk leading to the front gate from the Court Yard."

1791 Edward Savage. Mount Vernon from the Court Yard Carriage Entrance.

Elbridge Gerry, Jr. visited Mount Vernon, about 14 years after Washington's death noting that, "On one side is an elegant garden, which has a small white house for the gardener, and a row of brick buildings back of it. All these are enclosed by a wall in an oval form, and leaving a large area before the house for the yard."

Yards & Courtyards at Private Dwellings

Green Spring by Benjamin Latrobe, Showing Fences & Walls Surrounding the Court Yard at the Entrance Facade. (The garden was at the rear of the house.)

Yards & Courtyards at Private Dwellings

The term court yard usually referred to a public or private entrance greeting and meeting area. Because most courtyards were built to receive carriages and horses, they usually were located on the road side of coastline houses, not on the water-facing facade. The word yard appeared in the British American colonies in 1647, when a tenant agreed to "maintain the old dwelling house and quartering houses and Tobacco houses in repair, as well as the pales about the yard and gardens."

In Virginia in 1686, a visitor noted of Green Spring, the former home of Governor William Berkeley, that the orchard was "well fenced in with Locust fence, which is as durable as most brick walls, a Garden, a hundred feet square, well pailed in, a Yeard where in is most of the foresaid necessary houses, pallizado'd in with locust Punchens."

In 1687, hungry French visitor Durand of Dauphine in A Huguenot Exile in Virginia, wrote that "There are also many doves, turtle-doves, thrushes, partridges in such numbers that they come into the court-yards; they are smaller than those of Europe, but taste the same."

The 1746 South Carolina Gazette carried a notice about a missing horse, "SRTAY'D or stolen out of my Court -Yard formerly belonging to Mrs. Sarab Frott, a Roan Horse, with a black Bow Main, branded on the mounting shoulder B, shod his Fore Feet, and is brown by ten Name of Firefly."

Peter Kalm noticed on his travels throughout the colonies in 1748,"Mulberry trees are planted on some hillocks near the house, and sometime even in the court yards of the house."

In the Pennsylvania Gazette of 1753, a house-for-rent ad noted, "To be lett, A large commodious house, 4 rooms on a floor, 3 stories high, with neat court yard, garden and good orchard, conveniently situated on Germantown road, about a mile distant from Philadelphia. "Several months later, this description appeared, "a large commodious brick house, 40 feet square, 3 stories high, four rooms on a floor, a genteel court yard, neatly pailin, a brick wash house, necessary house, and pump in the yard, a good garden and orchard."

In an issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette of 1761 was a notice for a "A commodious Country Seat... a new Stone House three Stories high, being 41 Feet front, and 24 Feet deep, with Cellars under the whole; a Court Yardin the Front of the House, a Piazza joining the House, and a new Stone Kitchen, with a Pump before the Door."
Entrance to Court Yard at Mount Clare in Baltimore, Maryland. Here, as in most instances, the court yard was at the public entrance facade of the dwelling. The more private garden facade was usually on the opposite side of the house. Virginia visitor Mary Ambler in 1770, observed at Mount Clare in Baltimore, "There is a Handsome Court Yard on the other side of the House."

In 1777, in his Virginia letter book, George Braxton recorded, "I agreed with Alexander Oliver Gardener to make a Court yard before my Door according to Art."
Courtyard at Mount Vernon in Virginia.

In his diary for August 30, 1785, at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington reported that the workers had" Finished gravelling the right hand Walk leading to the front gate from the Court Yard."

1791 Edward Savage. Mount Vernon from the Court Yard Carriage Entrance.

Elbridge Gerry, Jr. visited Mount Vernon, about 14 years after Washington's death noting that, "On one side is an elegant garden, which has a small white house for the gardener, and a row of brick buildings back of it. All these are enclosed by a wall in an oval form, and leaving a large area before the house for the yard."

Just outside of Philadelphia in 1785, a country seat went on the market. "An elegant seat for a Summer residence of a genteel family, situated on the main street in Germantown, just beyond the six mile stone. This healthful retreat consists of a spacious house, two stories high, with four rooms on a floor, a piazza in the rear, 36 feet in length and 12 feet wide; a court yard about 80 feet square, neatly gravelled, sodded and surrounded with trees."

When artist Robert Edge Pine died, in Philadelphia his property went for sale in 1789. including "an elegant new Brick House 42 feet front by 50 feet deep, completely finished, and well accommodated either for a large family or for a public house; a good pump in the yard; a neat garden in the rear of the house, and a court -yard in front."
The Plantation 1825 Virginia.

Private Yards

In 1753, the South Carolina Gazette reported a dwelling for sale in Prince William Parish which included"a garden at the south front, and yardlately paved in."In the South, especially at urban sites, the yard was often paved with brick, tile, or crushed shells.
18C Thomas Banister House with front yard.

The Moravians who settled in at Salem, North Carolina, wrote in 1772,"The family houses are to fence in their yards, in order better to keep the children at home and not let them run around the streets. Also, if the open building-sites could be fenced in, the cattle could be kept out of town."
Early Houses and Fenced Yards at Old Salem, North Carolina.

New England tutor Philip Fithian Vickers was working at Nomini Hall, Virginia in 1774. He reported, "From the front yard of the Great House."

Henry Wansey toured New England in 1794. He wrote of Worcester, Massachusetts, "most of the houses have a large court before them, full of lilacs and other shrubs, with a seat under them, and a paved walk up the middle." And in Connecticut, he wrote, "I arrived at Newhaven...Many handsome well looking houses, though chiefly built of wood and separated by a court or garden from its neighbour."
1796 Ralph Earl. Detail Houses Fronting on New Milford Green with fenced yards.

Elizabeth Drinker wrote in her diary in 1796 of her home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,"Our Garden looks most beautiful, the Trees in full Bloom, the red, and white blossoms intermixt'd with the green leaves, which are just putting out flowers."
Fenced Utility Yard "Well Paled In" at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

Court Yard

Jonathan Schoepf reported on the toilet facilities in 1783, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,"a little court or garden, where usually are the necessaries, and so this often evil-smelling convenience of our European houses is missed here, but space and better arrangement are gained."
Necessary House in Colonial Williamsburg.

Garden to Table -Young Ben Franklin (1706-1790) On Vegan Food & Wine in 1734

A Young Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Robert Feke's 1748 painting

When Franklin was about 16, he met “with a book written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet,” (Franklin, Autobiography) which he promptly stuck to, more or less, for the next three years, & which he returned to for brief spells throughout his life.  

In addition, he repeats endlessly over the years his recommendation for moderation in eating:  “Be temperate in Wine, in eating, Girls, & Sloth, or the Gout will sieze you & plague you both” (Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1734)

Vegetarianism was rising during the 18C thanks to Britain's move toward Romanticism. The meatless diet was somewhat widespread during the age of Enlightenment, when new humanist ideas began to develop. Several romantic writers promoted vegetarianism because of their compassion for our fellow animals & their deep relationship to Nature. They denounced the consumption of meat as a inhumane & monstrous attack on living beings. They also developed negative ideas about the industrialization & consumerism beginning to dominate their economy. The rising costs of the meat, the agricultural changes & the emerging humanist values encouraged more & more people to follow a vegan diet. Among the romantics, Alexander Pope (1688–1744) & Joseph Ritson (1752–1803) were probably the most persistent & persuasive vegetarians. 

James Sayers (1748–1823), satirical caricature of Vegetarian Joseph Ritson, c 1803. Bodleian Library

Thomas Tryon (1634-1703) was an English merchant who advocated vegetarianism after having heard an inner voice, that he called the “Voice of Wisdom” in 1657. Tryon strongly opposed violence against animals, as his vegetarianism was linked to his belief in spiritual progress. He 1st adopted the diet at the age of 23, saying that he only drank water & ate bread, some vegetables, & cheese.  Tryonadvocated vegetarianism, pacifism and an end to slavery in the Caribbean. His beliefs inspired Benjamin Franklin to adopt the same lifestyle. 

Franklin explained: "When about 16 years of age, I happen’d to meet with a book written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. My brother being yet unmarried, did not keep house, but boarded himself and his apprentices in another family. My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity."

Apparently Franklin hadn't developed a large group of followers in his early years.

Garden Design - Walled & Fenced Yards

Brick-Walled Yard. 1750s Walled Garden & Grounds at Cleve in Virginia. Anne Byrd of Westover (1725-1757) (Mrs. Charles Carter). 

Brick walls usually surrounded public yards at court houses, state houses, hospitals, churches, cemeteries, prisons, and inns. Wooden fences usually surround yards at private dwellings, but some gentry homes also had brick or stone walls.  

A yard is an enclosed division of land usually attached to, or enclosed by a dwelling or public building or outbuildings usually defined by a fence or a wall.  

The term court yard usually referred to a public or private entrance greeting and meeting area. Because most courtyards were built to receive carriages and horses, they usually were located on the road side of coastline houses, not on the water-facing facade.

At private homes in rural settings, defined yards often were attached to service buildings used to house livestock or to store firewood or to outdoor kitchens.  

In Southern towns, yards sometimes were paved with bricks or crushed shells.  In 1753, in South Carolina Gazette, a dwelling for sale ad noted "a garden at the south front, and a yard lately paved in."

Eventually the term yard evolved throughout the 18C into the description of a cultivated area enclosed or attached to a dwelling that might contain flowers, orchard or shade trees, or a lawn intended to be used as a pleasure ground and exercise area. 

In the 18C, the term yard was used to designate practical & often commercial work areas such as, hemp yards, wood or timber yards, and even dock & ship yards.

By the last quarter of the 18C, folks referred to the enclosed area, where those incarcerated take exercise, as a prison yard. 

North Carolinian William Martin visiting Richmond, Virginia in 1813, wrote, "every private yard is decorated with the handsomest shade trees which our Country boasts." 

Other yards on larger rural properties were meant for livestock such as cow yards, pig yards, barn yards, poultry yards, chicken yards, turkey yards, & goose yards.  Domestic work yards, especially those used to house animals, were usually separated from kitchen & floral or pleasure gardens by fences or walls.

On smaller properties, homeowners often divided the land closer to the rear of the house into yards. These often included a woodyard or a stackyard for storing wood for heating.  

Some properties included a fenced family yard, which served as a safe, protected barrier against potential domestic & wild animal intrusion. In his Essays and Notes on Husbandry and Rural Affairs, John Beale Bordley wrote that the family yard should be planted in clean, closely cut grass & that its margins alone should be allowed to contain purely decorative flowers. 

Bordely explained that the well often stood near the family yard & wood yard. Sheep houses & pigsties commonly had their own individually fenced yards, & many poultry houses, or coops, had a distinct poultry yard often covered with fresh sand & gravel. Sections devoted to animals usually had watering troughs within their yards. 

The women in the family & female servants did the washing & ironing in washhouses, which were usually within or near a separately fenced area where the wash was hung on lines or spread across shrubs to dry. Contemporaries called these areas “bleach yards.”

Often colonials & early Americans would simply refer to their yards. Occasionally writers, especially visitors from England or the Continent, would leave the term yard off of a description of a court yard, simply referring to a court. 

Garden Design - Fences for Gardens, Yards, & Fields in Early America

1787-1791 Edward Savage (American artist, 1761-1817) George Washington's Mount Vernon Detail A View from The Northeast

1787-1791 Edward Savage (American artist, 1761-1817) The East Front of Mount Vernon

1787 Ludwig Gottfried von Redeken. Farmer working in his field near the Moravian settlement of Salem, North Carolina.

In early America, just as it had been for centuries, a fence was a structural barrier built of wood, or other materials, used to define, separate, & enclose areas like fields, pastures, yards, & gardens.  Fences were mandated by the local & colonial governments in many of the British American colonies in the 17C & 18C.

Some of the earliest legislation in the colonies were directives for fencing in cultivated grounds & other spaces requiring protection from animal & human intruders. Land in early America was often refered to as "well-fenced," "under a good fence," & "within fence."

In 1623, the Virginia General Assembly declared "that every freeman shall fence in a quarter of an acre of ground before Whitsuntide next to make a garden."

Jonathan Welch Edes (American artist, 1750-c 1793-1803) Overmantle Captain David Thacher’s home in Yarmouth on Cape Cod. Showing men drying cod on racks with the entire operation surrounded by fences.

An act of the Virginia General Assembly of 1705, intended to protect the gardens from stray pigs, horses & cattle, required the owners of every lot on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg, to "inclose the said lots, or half acres, with a wall, pales, or post and rails, within six months after the building, which the law requires to be erected thereupon, shall be finished."  The minimum height of the fence was set at 4 & one-half feet & but many were built higher. 

1796 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Houses on New Milford Green, CT

In 1706, the act of the Virginia legislature authorizing the building of the Governor's Palace allocated 635 pounds for the construction of the garden with these instructions, "that a Court-Yard, of dimensions proportionable to the said house, be laid out, levelled and encompassed with a brick wall 4 feet high with the balustrades of wood thereupon, on the said land, and that a Garden of the length of 254 foot and the breadth of 144 foot from out to out, adjoining to the said house, to be laid out and levelled and enclosed with a brick wall, 4 feet high, with ballsutrades of wood upon the said wall, and that handsome gates be made to the said court-yard and garden."

1787-1791 Edward Savage (American artist, 1761-1817) The East Front of Mount Vernon

By 1776, the wooden fences portions of the fences & walls around the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg needed attention. The Virginia Council Journal reported "Repairing Fodder Houses & paling round Garden."  The "General appoints 25 men to repair fences of park."

Also receiving attention were the wooden fences around the pasture near the Governor's Palace in 1777, "Repairing the pailing and railing Round the Pasture." In order to complete the fence repair the workmen needed "60 foot of plank, 250 nails."

1787-1791 Edward Savage (American artist, 1761-1817) Mount Vernon Detail A View from The Northeast

Many fences were built by slave & indentured servant laborers. 

Gottlieb Mittelberger traveled to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1750, on a ship primarily filled with poorer immigrants who would become indentured servants upon arriving in Philadelphia.

1800 Francis Guy (English-born American painter, 1760–1820) On the Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, where fences run down to the water & protect those on the pier from falling into it.

Mittelberger observed the working conditions for German immigrant, indentured servants in Pennsylvania & wrote of them upon his return to his homeland. He noted, "Work mostly consists in cutting wood, felling oak-trees, rooting out, or as they say there, clearing large tracts of forest. Such forests, being cleared, are then laid out for fields and meadows. From the best hewn wood, fences are made around the new fields; for there all meadows, orchards and fruit-fields, are surrounded and fenced in with planks made of thickly-split wood, laid one above the other, as in zigzag lines, and within such enclosures, horses, cattle, and sheep, are permitted to graze."
1803 Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Utility fence depicted in A Bason & Storehouse Belonging to the Santee Canal.

Most gardeners could not afford brick walls & chose traditional paling---a picket fence--to protect their kitchen gardens. Occasionally Virginians denoted property lines with rail fences constructed in a zig-zag form. One traveler wrote in 1777, “the New Englanders have a saying, when a man is in his liquor, he is making Virginia fences.”

1800 Felice Corne (1752–1845) Ezekiel Hersey Derby Farm near Salem, Massachusetts. Here is a combination of wooden fences & stone walls.

In Baltimore, Maryland in 1797, fenced gardens divided into quadrants but not terraced & with few other embellishments appeared at 13 Baltimore homes. At least one of these kitchen gardens had a stone wall surrounding its four beds. 

1800 Francis Guy (1760-1820). Bolton From the South Garden Facade falling toward the harbor.  This view of Bolton shows the rectangular fenced kitchen gardens at the bottom of the more formal green terraces.

1804 Chairback by John & Hugh Findley c 1804. View by Francis Guy 1760-1820. Garden Facade of Mt Deposit. Baltimore Home of David Harris (1752-1809)

Few paintings of the garden facades of Baltimore's country homes exist, but thanks to some inventive furniture makers, several chairback paintings of a variety of entrance facade fences remain.

1800 Francis Guy (1760-1820). Imporved Entrance Facade of Bolton.

Most of Baltimore's country seats had fences defining the entrance & garden areas of the property. Fences close to the house were usually painted white.

1804 Chairback by John & Hugh Findley c 1804. View by Francis Guy 1760-1820. Entrance Facade of Grace Hill Home of Hugh McCurdy from 1790-1805 in Baltimore.

1804 Chairback by John & Hugh Findley c 1804. View by Francis Guy 1760-1820. From the North Entrance Facade of Bolton, Home of George Grundy (1775-1825) Baltimore.

1804 Chairback by John & Hugh Findley c 1804. View by Francis Guy 1760-1820. Rose Hill. Home of William Gibson (1735-1832) Baltimore Lanvale Street at Eutaw Place.

1804 Chairback by John & Hugh Findley c 1804. View by Francis Guy 1760-1820. St. Paul's Chairity School. Baltimore.

1805 Chairback by John & Hugh Findley c 1804. View by Francis Guy 1760-1820. Woodville. Baltimore Home of Jeremiah Yellott .

Some of the homes dotting the hills above Baltimore's harbor did not have fences on the entrance facade of the home, exhibiting a more natural grounds approach toward their landscaping. Fenced kitchen gardens usually were tucked away at the rear of the house.

1805 Francis Guy (1760-1820).  Bolton in Baltimore from the extended South Garden Facade.  Here, the garden area at the bottom of the formal falling garden terraces had been fenced with a curved picket fencing.

French traveler Moreau St. Mery wrote of the country seats around New York City, when he was there in 1793.  "I have spoken frequently of "pretty" country houses in this description; but when one hears this expression, he must not think that it has the same sense here as it has in Europe, particularly in France.

"In America, a very pretty country house corresponds only to a place moderately kept up on the outskirts of a large French city, and even then one will find in the former neither the good taste which embellishes the European house nor the comforts which make living in it a pleasure.

In America almost everything is sacrificed to the outside view. To accomplish this the fences of the houses are sometimes varied by these six combinations:

1. Planks are laid vertically and close together.

2. Planks are laid the same way, with a space between them.

3. Little narrow boards are laid across without joining.

4. Vertically placed laths are joined.

5. Vertically placed laths are not joined.

6. Laths are placed vertically, but passing alternately on the outside and the inside of cross members.

"Further elegance is obtained by using different shades of paint on lattices and partitions. Doors are handled in the same way." 

1800 Michele Felice Corne (1752–1845) New England Country Seat with rather intricate entrance fencing.

New Yorker John Nicholson suggested a few practical, utilitarian fence designs in The Farmer's Assistant in 1820, "Log-fences are often made on new-cleared lands...White-pine log-fences are very good, and will last 20 years without any essential repairing. Clear white-pine timber may, however, be split into rails, which are very durable. All kinds of wood will last much longer in rails, when the bark is peeled off.

1780 Unknown Artist. The End of the Hunt.

"What are called worm-fences are made with most ease, but require more timber than some other kinds. If, therefore, timber be scarce, post-and-rail fences...ought to be prefered, where good durable posts can be had.

1796 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Ruggles Homestead

"If the posts are too small to have holes made through them, the rails may be flated at the ends and fastened to the posts with spikes.. or with wooden pins well secured.
1816. Charles Willson Peale. Belfield Farm in Pennsylvania.

Utility fences, when painted, were usually reddish in color. More formal fences were usually painted white.

1800 An Overmantle from the Gardiner Gilman House in Exeter, New Hampshire.  This painting shows a combination of wooden fencing & stone walls.

"Post-and-rail fences...arc very good where the soil is dry, and the same may be observed of board fences; but, where the soil is wet, the posts will be thrown out by the frosts. In all cases, the posts ought to be set at least 2 feet in the ground.

Francis Guy (English-born American painter, 1760–1820) Summer View of Brooklyn, NY.  The most unusual thing about these utilitarian town fences is that the artist painted them in the summer & in the winter with and without folks working around them.

"Red-cedar is best for posts. Locust, chesnut, butternut, and black-walnut are also good. Good oak will also last pretty well. Burning the ends of the posts which go into the ground, so as to make them black, will make them last longer...

1817-20 Francis Guy (English-born American painter, 1760–1820) Winter Scene in Brooklyn, NY

"It is advisable to have a close high fence round your kitchen and fruit-gardens. This, in the first place, renders every thing within it secure from Pillagers; and also serves to keep out fowls. Another, benefit consists in keeping off the strong cold winds of the Spring, which are very injurious to the young plants, and also to the fruit, which is then about puting forth."

1817 Francis Guy (English-born American painter, 1760–1820) Winter Scene in Brooklyn, NY  How the fence was used in the winter.