Book of the Week: Old Time Gardens (from 1901)

The black and white pictures in Old Time Gardens by Alice Morse Earle were the ‘hook’ for me. The Internet Archive has if you are willing to read it online; it’s the way I perused it - primarily for the pictures. There is also a version of the historical book published in 2005 and 'in print' from Amazon

Early on there is a photograph of the gardens at Mount Vernon (George Washington’s home) and I knew I would want to look all the way through. I found myself checking to see if some of the named gardens/locations still existed as gardens. One was a farm that was going through restoration - although the house was mentioned more prominently than the garden.

The other thoughts I have when looking at books of this vintage are historical. The book is a perspective of what the world was like for our great grandparents or great - great grandparents. It is heartening to understand that gardens in 1901 are something that gave joy then and the same types of places today are still pleasurable.