A visit to the gardens of yesteryear

Flower & Garden Magazine, August-Sept, 1995 by Ellen Henke, Marian Behan Hammer

REMINISCING ABOUT THE PAST CAUSES most of us to wax nostalgic. We use sentimental phrases like "a bygone era," "the good old days," or "times of yore." But would a real step backwards in time - before gardeners had running water, power tools and similar labor-saving devices - really be better than the here-and-now?

Although time travel is an interesting fantasy, you actually can get a glimpse of the past by visiting one of the many "living history museums" operating around the country. Visitors to these historical sites can see how folks lived in the past. From Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, clear across the country to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington, you can temporarily turn back the clock and discover the origins of your gardening heritage.

Old Sturbridge Village

Wandering down one of the dirt roads approaching Old Sturbridge Village, visitors get a clear perspective of a typical New England village of the 1830s. The village is centered on an open tract of public land called the common. A recreation of the old meetinghouse, with its symbolic steeple painted pristine white, dominates the view.

In the early 19th century the meetinghouse was a symbol of spiritual power as well as the town's authority. New Englanders formed close-knit communities and chose to live within sight of their nearest neighbors. The homes around the common were sited on small lots with gardens and the necessary livestock. Country roads, radiating out from the common like spokes of a wheel, linked the rural farms to the center.

Colorful flowers in the fenced dooryard garden of the Fenno House draw the attention of visitors at Old Sturbridge Village. Depicted as the home of an elderly widow and her unmarried daughter, the residence dates back to 1704 and is the oldest house in the village. The layout of the gardens, cultivation methods and vegetable varieties have been researched by the staff through diaries, letters, garden catalogs and books.

Field and garden crops here are not the modern hybrids, but rather heirloom varieties grown in early rural New England. As antique varieties are located, they are propagated and maintained in the gardens. Visitors can obtain a free brochure titled "The Kitchen Gardens," which lists the varieties grown here as well as their locations.

The large fenced vegetable garden in back of the Fenno House recreates one that the original occupants might have had. Production of useful vegetables, fruits and herbs was a primary consideration of most families in the early 19th century. Families relied on kitchen gardens to yield a year-round supply of vegetables, so mainstay crops included beans and peas, root crops, cabbages, cucumbers, squashes and onions. Small fruits, potherbs and medicinal herbs completed the garden picture. These kitchen gardens were often informal, unkempt and overgrown.

Visitors will note a marked contrast between the simple, productive garden at the Fenno House and the formal garden at the Fitch House, home of a successful printer and his family. Here, surrounded by a white picket fence, is a formal circular garden featuring a wide array of colorful flowers. The design for the garden was provided by one of the earliest New England gardening books, an 1833 children's classic called The Young Florist by Joseph Breck, a Boston-area horticulturist.

The Richardson Parsonage features a fenced dooryard garden of flower beds and borders as well as a kitchen garden planted in raised beds. The kitchen garden is based on recommendations from an antique advice book and demonstrates the more scientific and experimental approach the minister and his family took toward gardening.

Most impressive, however, is the Salem Towne House, a handsome residence that reflects the taste of its prosperous owner, who introduced new attitudes and fashions to rural society. Salem Towne Jr. was a land surveyor, Justice of the Peace, an active politician and a farmer. To the north of the house the farmyard is a showplace of 1830s agricultural methods, including Towne's apple orchard, which features antique varieties. The formal pleasure garden at the Towne House, with its symmetrical layout and abundance of bloom, reveals the developing interest in ornamental gardening among prosperous New England families long ago.

A little off the village's beaten path is a fragrant and colorful herb garden. Be sure to see the special demonstration garden that is testament to the important role of aromatic herbs in early 19th century life. The herb garden contains a sampler of over 400 useful plants, all labeled, located on a west-facing slope with convenient paths for easy access to the raised beds. The raised beds make both cultivation and viewing easier. Useful household plants - like flax for making linen and assorted dye plants - are grown on the upper level; culinary plants are grown in the middle section; medicinal plants are grown on the lowest level.

ITINERARY INFORMATION

Old Sturbridge Village is located in central Massachusetts on U.S. 20. Take 1-84 to Exit 2 or the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 9. Bus service from Boston is available through Peter Pan Bus Lines.