Historic Gardens in Need of Your Help

Posted by Joyce Benson   Add a Comment

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We all appreciate walking through a lovely garden, and those with historic character are especially appealing.  But, in order to maintain an authentic period look, much work has to be done.  Many historic gardens are in need of restoration.  Those involved in garden restorations rely on archaeological evidence, drawings, photographs and historical documents to bring dilapidated sites back to their original state.

While many impressive garden restorations have been completed abroad at such places as Palais Het Loo (Apeldoorn, Holland) and The Tudor House Museum & Garden (Hampshire, England), there are some well-done examples here in The States.  Those at Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) and Middleton Place (South Carolina; dating back to the 1740s) offer authentic period gardens.

A few gardens needing your help include:

• Ekland History Center & Garden (c.1880s) in Glencoe, IL
• Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens (c.1830s) Columbia, SC (pictured here)
• Hearst Castle Gardens (c.1947) in San Simeon, CA
• Jeremiah Lee Mansion Gardens (c.1768) in Marblehead, MA

Ways you can help a historic garden near you:

• Visit a garden so you can see first-hand its condition
• Volunteer
• Donate
• Become a member of the organization or conservancy working on restoration
• Join a garden club that supports historic garden restorations

Tag(s): Green Design, Historic Preservation, The Green Garden

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