Object Details
- General
- In the 1930's the owners of a farmhouse originally built in 1849 installed gardens around the house including a sunken rose garden, perennial borders, a cutting garden, and a formal terrace with a spring-fed fountain. These gardens were maintained by three generations of the Childs family and by the current owner when the 15-acre property was purchased in 1998. In 2005 a five-acre pasture was developed as a sculpture garden with contemporary works of art and complementary plantings. A dry stream bed (arroyo) that cuts through the property was turned into another garden, planted with iris, Japanese primrose, cranesbill and hosta. Between 2012 and 2015 a woodlands garden with a rustic pergola and hexagonal gazebo and a Japanese garden with a pagoda, French Art Deco gate and arched bridge were designed and installed. Some of the original perennial borders were updated with flowers in bolder colors but antique apple trees, another pergola with benches underneath for appreciating the views, a cider press, and outbuildings including a stone spring house have been preserved. A corn crib was converted into a guest cottage; a larger guest house near the main house has linear hedges and flower beds as well as a reflecting pool on the axis that leads to a sculpture. The stone walls and hedges are meticulous, lawns are mowed in the crisscrossing pattern, and narrow brick paths have been set into wider mowed grass walkways. Clipped hedges with stone walls or artefacts highlight long views of these grounds toward distant mountains. There are two fenced vegetable gardens and a greenhouse. A large pond has a pond house nearby as well as a small sand beach. The garden has been included in tours sponsored by the Nature Conservancy and used by non-profit organizations for fund raising events. The owner is interested in preserving the property as a public space. Persons associated with the garden include: F. Nelson and Florence Doubleday (former owners, -1931); Lowrie and Hortense Childs (former owners, 1931-1944); Charles S. and Helen Childs (former owners, 1944-1976); Charles (Pete) and Jane Childs (former owners, 1976-1998); Sylvia and Stanley Stroup (owners, 1998-2017); Stanley Stroup (owners, 2017-); Hortense Childs (house gardens designer, 1930's); North Hill Garden Design (sculpture garden and woodland garden designers, 2008 and 2007-2012); Ray Smith (Japanese garden designer, 2013); Sugar Rock Landscape (hardscape construction, 2008-2014); Janette Morrison and Ernie Dibble (gardeners, 1998- ); David Tamych (sculptor); Rita Dee (sculptor); Richard Erdman (sculptor); Phil Thorne (sculptor); Roger Di Taranto (sculptor); Thomas Ostenberg (sculptor); Mark Chatterley (sculptor); Hans Van de Bovencamp (sculptor); Peter Woytuk (sculptor); George Sherwood (sculptor); Curt Brill (sculptor); Royden Mills (sculptor).
- Provenance
- Bennington Garden Club
- Photographer
- Jones, Issac S.
- Polly S., Jones
- Nevius, Christy
- Collection Creator
- Garden Club of America
- Place
- United States of America -- Vermont -- Bennington County -- Manchester
- Turkey Hill Farm (Manchester, Vermont)
- Topic
- Gardens -- Vermont -- Manchester
- Provenance
- The Bennington Garden Club facilitated the 2019 submission.
- Provenance
- Bennington Garden Club
- Photographer
- Jones, Issac S.
- Polly S., Jones
- Nevius, Christy
- See more items in
- The Garden Club of America collection
- The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Gardens / Vermont
- Sponsor
- A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
- Archival Repository
- Archives of American Gardens
- Identifier
- AAG.GCA, File VT020
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
- Rights
- Restricted. No commercial use.
- Bibliography
- This property is featured in "The Art of the Garden" by Ellen Ecker Ogden, published in Country Gardens, March 2015, pp. 82-89; " An Inside Look at Some Exquisite Gardens Nurtured by Local Homeowners and Landscapes" by Erica Ludlow Bowman, published in Manchester Life Magazine, posted July 5, 2017 (accessed October 23, 2019); Country Life magazine cover art with article written by Florence Van Wyk Doubleday, March 1925.
- Scope and Contents
- 55 digital images (2019) and 1 file folder with a photocopy of cover art of this farm for a 1925 Country Life magazine.
- Collection Restrictions
- Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Record ID
- ebl-1643208220039-1643210187674-1
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