Liberty Hall Historic Site, Gardens

Liberty Hall Historic Site welcomes the public to visit the grounds and experience them as a place to relax and reflect. For individuals or small groups (9 people or fewer) you can enjoy the gardens without reservation, but must be aware that other event may be occurring. Please respect the grounds, the houses, and the work of the gardeners on duty. The gardens are open from dawn to dusk; we ask that you not visit the property after dark for your own safety. Please remember to take nothing and leave nothing; that is, do not pick the flowers or take any of the edible produce you find on the grounds. Also, please take your trash with you when you go.

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. 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.

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.

If you are interesting in renting the gardens for your group of 10 people or more, please visit the Event Rental page for more information.

"Continue to Love Me": The Mother's Garden at Liberty Hall

On May 12, 2012, Liberty Hall Historic Site dedicated "Continue to Love Me": The Mother's Garden at Liberty Hall for 2012. The bed, located near the Orlando Brown House lawn, offers community members the opportunity to honor mothers and grandmothers by planting a flower in her honor or memory. The garden features annuals and perennials that evoke love and remembrance. The plaque in the Mother’s Garden features the sentiment “Continue to Love Me” which nine-year-old Orlando Brown wrote in 1810 in a letter to his mother, Margaretta Mason Brown, who was visiting family in New York. Information about the 2013 Mother's Garden campaign will be posted here in March.