The Gardens of Liberty Hall
 

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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.