Landscape Tour Gardens

Though little remains, the estate originally had a variety of gardens for both vegetables and flowers. The long driveway was lined with eight scalloped garden beds, each about fifty feet long. Behind the house was a flower garden with a gazebo covered in roses that was named Mary’s Garden in memory of W.E.C. Eustis’s mother.

Swedish immigrant Manning Johnson worked as the landscape gardener on the estate from 1904-1917. His son Paul grew up on the estate and described some of the gardens in his memoir:

There was a large round garden in the center of the lawn inside the circular drive to the front arched entrance to the big house. From the right angle this garden would reflect in a huge round window on the second floor of the house. Many smaller gardens were scattered throughout the estate such as the salvia bed, the phlox bed, the cosmos bed and so on. In the spring the bulbs were blooming everywhere. (One Man’s Story, by Paul Johnson, 1991)

The circular garden can be seen in historic photographs like the one above and at the start of this tour. Look for it in the original landscape plan below.