On Monday, XKT and Rosie traveled from the Outer Banks to Kennett Square. Pennsylvania, where we stayed the night. Next morning, we toured Longwood Gardens, a horticultural showcase offering majestic trees, exquisite flowers, and a fantastic conservatory. Measuring 1077+ acres, Longwood Gardens consists of gardens, woodlands, and meadows. It is one of the premier botanical gardens in the United States.
Originally, this land was occupied by the native Lenni Lenape tribe who hunted, fished, and farmed this glorious wilderness. The Lenni Lenape, meaning the "true people," are a group of several bands of Native Americans with shared cultural and linguistic distinctions. They are also known as the Delaware Indians, from the Delaware River, so named by the English settlers after Lord De La Warr, the governor of the Jamestown, Virginia, colony.
In 1700, the property was purchased from William Penn, founder and "absolute proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony, and the future state of Pennsylvania, by a Quaker family named Peirce. Joshua and Samuel Peirce soon established a working farm and in 1798 began planting an arboretum consisting of numerous rare and interesting ornamental trees and shrubs. By 1850, the Peirces had amassed one of the finest collections of trees in the nation. In 1906, Pierre S. du Pont (1870 - 1954) purchased the property from the Peirce family to save the arboretum from being sold for lumber. du Pont added extensively to the property from 1906 to the 1930's. A world traveler, du Pont was open to all sorts of influences and was inspired to add features to the garden after attending world's fairs, the most notable additions being the massive conservatory, complete with a magnificent pipe organ, a star-lit theater, and an extensive system of fountains.
du Pont was 36 when he bought the Peirce farm and began creating what would become Longwood Gardens. The gardens were built piecemeal, beginning with a 600-foot long Flower Garden Walk in 1907, reflecting an "old-fashioned" influence with rose trellises, shrubs, and cottage-garden flowers all on a grand scale. His later gardens would draw heavily on Italian and French influences. In 1914, du Pont debuted his Open Air Theater, inspired by the outdoor theater at Villa Gori, near Siena, Italy, but much grander. The exquisite Conservatory, a perpetual Eden, opened in 1921 and is one of the world's great greenhouses,
sheltering 20 indoor gardens and over 500 types of plants in 4.5 acres of display.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Rosie And XKT Visit Longwood Gardens In Kennett Square, PA. Part 1.
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Lovely to see Longwood Gardens in the daylight! My in-laws live near there, and last Thanksgiving, we visited the Christmas Lights display. Can't wait to see your next posting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me see some of the areas that I didn't have the time to tour last summer.
ReplyDeleteQuiglets, I bet that was spectacular.
ReplyDeleteMar, I have a special section in Part 3 for you!