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The Gardens of Liberty Hall
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Click on any picture to enlarge.
Liberty
Hall Historic Site's grounds include an extensive boxwood and perennial
garden that is located between the houses and the banks of the Kentucky
River. Rather than being a reproduction of the original garden at
Liberty Hall, today's garden reflects the garden as it evolved
through four generations of Brown ownership.
From
the beginning, flowers were an important part of the garden. Traveling
as a young bride from her home in New York, Senator Brown's wife
Margaretta brought with her a Polish rose. In addition, many other
varieties of pillar and climbing roses, as well as perennials, decorated
the garden. References to the first garden in letters between Senator
Brown and Margaretta in 1802 reveal its utilitarian nature (vegetables,
herbs, and fruit trees), and Margaretta's desire to protect it with
a fence. Her evident pleasure in the success of the garden, particularly
in the orchard where she held Sunday School classes.
When the original four acre lot was divided in half
between John and Margaretta's sons, Mason and Orlando, the garden
began to acquire its present form.
A
sketch made by Mary Mason Scott, of the fourth and last generation
of Senator and Mrs. Brown's descendants to live at Liberty Hall,
illustrates a more ornamental garden with expanded varieties of
trees, shrubs, and flowers.
Today, the Liberty Hall Historic Site exhibits historic as well as modern plants while honoring the spirit and
structural context recorded in the garden plans and documents
of the Brown family.
   
Liberty
Hall Historic Site
202
Wilkinson Street
Frankfort, KY 40601
502-227-2560
or toll-free 888-516-5101
libhall@dcr.net
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