Grumblethorpe Garden: Photographs Through the Years

 

In my most recent research into the garden at Grumblethorpe House 

in Germantown, I found more images, including the one at top of a woman

in Victorian dress walking in the side yard.  Closest to her is the Overcup Oak,

 described by a visitor to the garden in 1904, that was taken down 

in the late 1990's due to poor tree health.  Behind the fence stands the 

gingko to the left and the beech to the right, both which you can come 

visit today in the garden.  The chicken wire surrounding the new tree 

in the foreground may be the dogwood which is also still in the garden.

In my online searching I found a collection of photographs taken by 

Alfred Hand in 1920-21 that is part of the Library Company of Philadelphia's

 collection They show the garden and the house  including the old porch 

overhang (now removed), the carpenter's shop, the observatory
and smokehouse (before they were destroyed) and
the property wall before much of it collapsed. 

You can also see some of the trees and the grape vine and
wisteria vine over the arbor that are still there.

I'm putting together an exhibit of images of the garden and
the stories of the Wister Family characters and their
gardening and farming 

experiences from their journals and sketches.  

These are some designs in progress for posters to be displayed
in the garden to share some of the history with visitors today.
There will be a few more including some focusing on
the farm and the bee keeping activities that include funny
comments from the Wister family, which included
multi-talented poets, musicians, botanists, artists, winemakers,
merchants, astronomers, farmers, scientists and gardeners.