How a President and a DuPont heiress created a beautiful garden across a century
The garden at the Presidential Estate at Montpelier in Virginia is a beautiful sight. It consists of about two acres of shrubs, trees and flowers. The estate was purchased by the DuPont family after several owners In 1900. Mrs. Annie DuPont wanted to create a beautiful place to spend time among nature. When Madison owned the estate it was four acres and consisted of both ornamental as well as plants that could be consumed. This was the custom of the day, and it is most evident at Mount Vernon in George Washington’s private gardens.
In Madison’s day the Gardens were terraced, Mrs. DuPont reclaimed this feature after years of neglect.
Mrs. DuPont learned of the original garden from records of the day and wanted to return it to its glory. The original garden was terraced, and Mrs. DuPont sought to regain this feature. Mrs. DuPont also added the wall that is now there. A sign hangs on the exits instructing visitors to make sure to shut the gates due to deer creeping in to eat the grasses and flowers.
Terraced Garden. Restored by Mrs. DuPont and maintained by the groundskeepers at Montpelier today.
The Wall of the terraced garden as well as the gate on the end.
There are several trees inside the garden also. A few are quite large.
My hat for scale. A very old and large tree.
Tree at the Garden.
The trees provide shade and create some nice places to sit and talk with friends. These are a couple of my favorite areas of the garden. I could imagine sitting here and talking over all the worlds problems with my good friends and mutuals from X.
Sitting with a beautiful plant at Montpelier
Nice nook and bench in the Garden of Montpelier
It was inspiring to visit the Montpelier estate. It’s much less known than the Monticello estate of Thomas Jefferson, but the tour of the home is much more informative and interesting. I highly recommend a visit to Montpelier.
Time to go, but thank you for reading. Wonderful staff at Montpelier. I visited three of the first 4 presidential homes last year. This was my most surprising of the three. I again, ask you to consider a stop when you are in Virginia.