The Woodlands

The Woodlands, a country estate outside the city of Philadelphia, was famed in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries as a leading example of English taste in architecture and landscape gardening, and for the extensive collection of indigenous and exotic plants formed by William Hamilton. The property was later converted into a rural cemetery.

Overview

Alternate Names: William Hamilton House; The Woodlands Cemetery
Site Dates: 1766–ca.1898
Site Owner: Andrew Hamilton (c. 1676–1741); Andrew Hamilton II (d. 1747); James Hamilton (d. 1783); William Hamilton (1745–1813); James Hamilton (d. 1817); The Woodlands Cemetery Company
Associated People: John McAran (gardener); John Lyon (d. 1814, gardener); and Frederick Pursh (1774–1820, gardener)
Location: View on Google Maps

History

Situated on a bluff overlooking a bend in the Schuylkill River, the property that became known as The Woodlands offered scenic beauty and a convenient location in the countryside to the west of Philadelphia when Andrew Hamilton (1676?–1741), a prominent lawyer, purchased the first parcel of 250 acres in 1734. On Hamilton’s death, the property passed to his son, and six years later to his grandson, William Hamilton. With the intention of retiring to the countryside to pursue his interests in architecture, botany, and landscape design, Hamilton moved to The Woodlands from Bush Hill, his family’s more centrally located house on the outskirts of Philadelphia, in 1767, at the age of twenty-two. Around 1770 he erected a house that featured a grand, two-story riverside portico that connected the interior of the house with the landscape. Through the purchase of additional land, Hamilton had expanded The Woodlands to 600 acres by 1781. He erected a one-and-a-half-story greenhouse measuring 65 by 24 feet that provided a model for the greenhouse that David Hosack began building in 1803 at the Elgin Garden in New York (view text).

Hamilton’s plans for The Woodlands gained in ambition following his nineteen-month visit to England in 1784–85. Having expanded the acreage of the estate through additional land purchases, Hamilton carried out a major renovation and enlargement of his house, which doubled its original size—a project that occupied him from 1786 to 1789. The renovated house was neo-classical in style and designed in relation to the surrounding landscape, with axial sight lines providing dramatic vistas of the grounds, river, and outlying countryside. The house and other structures on the property were integrated into an overall landscape design, and connected visually through the construction of scenic vistas and physically through “circuits,” such as walks and drives. These connections were reinforced by a series of paths and drives leading from the house to the gardens, greenhouse, and a two-story stable, which he began around 1790 (view text). Hamilton carried out even more elaborate work on the grounds of The Woodlands. Although as early as 1779, he was planning to establish a “small park” on his property), it was only after his return from England, where he had made a special study of contemporary English landscape design while touring a number of country estates, that he formed the explicit intention of creating a garden in the English, or natural style. In 1802 or 1803 Hamilton hired the German botanist Frederick Pursh to oversee the garden at The Woodlands. Early in the nineteenth century, Hamilton added a second greenhouse, creating a structure measuring approximately 140 feet in all. On a visit in 1806, Charles Drayton reported that the greenhouse contained “between 7 & 8000 plants,” including “a cistern for tropic aquatic plants,” and that it was occasionally visited by the professor of botany at Philadelphia College and his students (view text). Thomas Jefferson frequently corresponded with Hamilton concerning their shared interest in horticulture and garden design. In 1806, Jefferson invited his friend to visit Monticello and see the improvements he was contemplating, noting, "You will have an opportunity of indulging on a new field some of the taste which has made The Woodlands the only rival which I have known in America to what may be seen in England" (view text).

Following Hamilton’s death in 1813, his heirs found the expense of maintaining The Woodlands difficult to sustain. The property gradually fell into disrepair and was divided up and sold in 1828. The Philadelphia seedsman Henry Augustus (1818–1873) acquired The Woodlands in 1839 and based his nursery business there until 1850. The Woodlands Cemetery Company acquired a portion of the site in 1840 and began to transform the garden into a rural cemetery, with William Hamilton’s mansion serving as an office. In the early 1840s the surveyor Philip M. Price, who had already contributed to a number of other rural cemetery projects, devised a plan for The Woodlands that combined aspects of both the geometric style and the natural style of landscape design. The cemetery was divided into sections bounded by winding roads, with each section designed individually. The earliest sections to be developed were located in the inner core of the grounds, and laid out with alleys, diagonal paths, and curving walks to provide access to individual graves and family plots. The outer subdivisions of the cemetery were initially left as undeveloped green space. Avenues named for trees (occasionally corresponding with those planted along their route) provided major access routes. Hamilton’s greenhouse was demolished in 1854 to make room for sheds for horses and carriages. The mansion and stable-carriage house are the only Hamilton-era buildings that remain at the site of The Woodlands.

--Robyn Asleson

Texts

• Hamilton, William, April 1779, in a letter to William Tilghman, Jr. (quoted in Long 1991: 83)

"As to Philadelphia, I never go there without business calls me. Do you remember how anxious I was two or three years ago to have a peep at the Town, thro the Central Wood. ‘Twas then an object of my regard, but at present I do cordially hate it, that altho the prospect of it lately open’d by the total removal of the Wood is a most commanding one, & would at any other time have been admired, it is now absolutely disgusting to me. Judge by this what must be the Frame of my Mind.”

• Hamilton, William, April 1779, in a letter to William Tilghman, Jr. (quoted in Wunsch 2004: 23)

"I have just been making some considerable Improvements at the Woodlands, and I long to have you see them. . . . From the scarcity of Fence Nails, High prices and Difficulty of getting Labourers I have been obliged to throw 100 acres on the back of my House, into only one Enclosure which although not inconvenient has never [had a?] handsome Effect. You may recollect the Ground is Hill & Dale Woodland and plain and therefore well enough calculated to make a small park, and I am endeavoring to give it as much as possible a parkish Look. My Lawn too I expect will shine this summer, it already looks elegantly. And so it ought, you'll say, when you are told the manuring it this last Winter has cost me L 1500.”

• Hamilton, William, April 1779, in a letter to William Tilghman, Jr. (quoted in Long 1991: 84)

"The necessity I am under of repairing in some Degree, the Damage my Estate has sustained, gives me constant employment, & obliges me to stir about a good deal, and as it leaves less time for Thought, is I believe of considerable Service to my Health which I am persuaded would otherwise suffer, from my Reflexions on past and present Scenes.”

• Hamilton, William, February 20, 1784, in a letter from Bush Hill to George Washington

"I engaged a person of the name of Turner, newly arrived from England, to do some stucco work at Bush Hill. While he was at the work I frequently talk’d with him about the different compositions now so much used in England particularly that for covering floors, Roofs, & fronts of Houses. He professed to understand the method of preparing & applying it & wished me to encourage him in giving a Specimen. To this, I at length consented, and he undertook to make a variegated floor in my Green House, one for an open portico on the front of my House on the Schuylkill, and to cover the flats of two Bow Windows…. I have enquired of Mr. Vaughan & several other english [sic] gentlemen who say great things of it.”

• Parke, Thomas, April 27, 1785, in a letter from Philadelphia to Humphry Marshall (quoted in Harshberger 1929: 278)

"W. Hamilton has sent a number of curious Flowering Shrubs & Forest Trees to be transplanted at his Seat on the Schuylkill."

• Hamilton, William, September 24, 1785, in a letter from England to Dr. Thomas Parke (quoted in Betts 1979: 224–225)

“Having resolved on my return in the Spring I am daily looking forward to the arrangements for making my situation convenient and agreable. Some addition to the House, a stable & other offices are immediately necessary at the Woodlands, and as I have most severely felt the consequences of having workmen at extravagant prices, I mean to take from hence some who will engage with me for a certain number of years on moderate terms, & if the remittances will admit I will also purchase in this Country every kind of material by which any thing can be saved. Some indeed there are that will depend on taste, and as I am vain enough to like my own as well as that of any one, cannot be so well got by anybody else when my back is turn'd. In order to take time by the forelock, Mr. Bob Barclay has been so good as to write for me to Glasgow, & had order'd out two or three stone quarriers the expence of whose passages & c. will probably have to be paid by you. I know not yet the terms but will give you the earliest information. You will on their arrival fix them at the Woodlands & employ them during the winter at the quarry where the stones were raised for building the Bridge over the mill creek as I think that the best kind of stone. By the way I wish to have an experiment made with some of our stone & beg you will be so kind as to send me a block from that very quarry of about 12 Inches square & six Inches thick as also a block of the chester stone of the same size. You must be sensible too that I can get a first rate gardiner to go with me on very moderate terms compared with what that branch at present costs me & I shall not fail to suit myself.”

• Hamilton, William, September 30, 1785, in a letter from England to his secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith (quoted in Betts 1979: 225)

“Having observed with attention the nature, variety & extent of the plantations [in England] of shrubs trees & fruits & consequently admired them, I shall (if God grant me a safe return to my own country) endeavour to make it [the Woodlands] smile in the same useful & beautiful manner. To take time by the forelock, every preparation should immediately be made by Mr. Thompson who is on the spot, & I have no doubt you will assist him to the utmost of your power. The first thing to be set about is a good nursery for trees, shrubs, flowers, fruit, &c. of every kind. I do desire therefore that seeds in large quantities may be directly sown of the white flowering locus, the sweet or aromatic birch, the chestnut oak, horse chestnuts, chincapins. . . .

”When you write again, inform me of the Dimensions of the Sideboard I bought of Mr. Penn: not only the size of the Board, but of the frame as to width, length, & height I wish to know what can stand under it.

"Step also the Diameter of the circle or ring that ends in the Ice House Hill & tell me the space from one to the other side of the walk & of the Ha Ha. I am at a loss to determine the number of feet from the west wall of the House to the East Wall of the Green House at the Woodlands."

• Hamilton, William, November 2, 1785, in a letter from England to Dr. Thomas Parke (quoted in Betts 1979: 225)

"As I can by no means afford to live in Bush Hill, I shall be under the necessity of adding to the House & building Offices at the Woodlands. Altho the state of my finances will not allow me to do much at present & the improvements must be gradual, It will be proper however to fix on some general plan for the whole & according as I have wherewithal while I am on the spot mean to procure whatever materials in the way of finishing & furnishing may be here purchased on a saving plan. The more I can do in this way the better as besides lessning the Expence There will be a great savings of time. I mention this to prove to you how very useful it will be to me for you to remit whatever Cash can be spared from my American occasions. I have the vanity to think I shall be thereby enable to introduce many conveniences & improvements that will be useful to my country as well as myself."

• L. G., June 15, [1788?], in a letter to her sister Eliza (quoted in Betts 1979: 216–217)

“...the moment you enter the grounds you discover all the neatness of the possessor, the road leading to the house is delightful, you wind round a small declivity through a clear wood consisting almost entirely of young trees & through the opening valley you have a distant view of the City—The house is planned with a great deal of taste, the front is divided into a spacious hall with a room at each end, the back part is composed of a large dining-room, separated by an entry leading from the hall to the back-door, from a very handsome room, which, when finished will form a complete oval—The prospect from every room is enchanting, as you enter the hall you have a view of a remarkably fine lawn, beyond that, the bridge over which people are constantly passing, the rough ground opposite to Gray's, four or five windings of the Schuylkill, the intermediate country & the Delaware terminated by the blue mist of the Jersey shore—on one side you see distinctly the City & the surrounding country, on the opposite end, another view of the Schuylkill and the green-house—at the back the eye is refreshed with the sight of the most beautiful trees.—The whole of this is heightened by mirror doors which when closed repeats the landscape & has a very fine effect it appears, indeed, like a fairy scene, another effect produced from them is, that when you are at one end of the house & look through them, you not only see the whole length, but that, being reflected by these glass doors gives you the idea of its being twice the extent.

"Mr. Hamilton was remarkably polite—he took us round his walks which are planted on each side with the most beautiful & curious flowers & shrubs they are in some parts enclosed with the Lombardy poplar except here & there openings are left to give you a view of some fine trees or beautiful prospect beyond & in others, shaded by arbours of the wild grape, or clumps of large trees under which are placed seats where you may rest yourself & enjoy the cool air—when you arrive at the bottom of the lawn along the borders of the river you find quite a natural walk which takes the form of the grounds entirely shaded with trees & the greatest profusion of grapes which perfumes the air in a most delightful manner, its fragrance resembles that of the Minionet, a little further on, you come to a charming spring, some part of the ground is hollowed out where Mr. Hamilton is going to form a grotto, he has already collected some shells; from this place you might have a view of the mill back of Gray's, but as the owner will not be induced to part with it although he has been offerred £100 per acre for 50 acres Mr. Hamilton has entirely shut it out—the walk terminates at the Green-house which is very large the front is ornamented with the greatest quantity of the most flourishing jesamine & honeysuckles in full bloom that I have ever seen—the plants are all removed to a place back of the Green house where they are ranged in the most beautiful order, they are so numerous that we had time to see only a very small part, every spring each plant is removed to a different spot—

"It would take several days to be perfectly acquainted with the various beauties of this charming place to take in the whole of its beauties, you ought to view it at different hours of the day & particularly at moon light, so that you can form but an inadequate idea of its charms from a visit of two hours, such, however, as I have I will venture to give you & though you may not be able from my description to form an exact picture of it, still you will have room to exercise your imagination & supply the deficiences & if you derive amusement it will afford me pleasure."

• Hamilton, William, 1789, in a letter to his secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith (quoted in Madsen 1988: A4)

"In my Hurry at the time of coming off from Home I omitted to put in the ground the exotic Bulbous roots & as I gave no direction to Hilton respecting them they may suffer more especially as they were all taken out of the pots & left dry on the Back flue of the Hot House."

• Hamilton, William, October 1789, in a letter from Lancaster to his secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith (quoted in Betts 1979: 234)

"Mr. Child told me he would not fail to remind you of getting Mr. Fluce out to mend the hot house. . . ."

• Hamilton, William, October 12, 1789, in a letter from Lancaster to his secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith (quoted in Betts 1979: 234)

"You say the ploughman at the Woodlands will want from me 9 bushels of seed. Can this be all my share for the 33 or 34 acres of lawn. You mention not the Stable scantling. . . .

"If the Borders are already done & all other matters finish'd as before directed by me for Hilton &c, They may as well set to clear the stones away from the spot where the stable is to stand so as to have every thing ready for beginning on my return. If Hilton, Willy & Bob cannot yet be spared for this Business, I would advise you to get a couple of strong trusty labourers & employ them about it & discharge them as soon as 'tis effectually done. Mr. Child knows where the stable is to stand with its front due east. . . ."

• Hamilton, William, September 1790, in a letter to his private secretary Benjamin Hays Smith (1905: 260)

"In case you go to Brannan's I beg you to look particularly at his largest Gardenias & Arbutus so as to give an account of the size as well as the prices of them. I mentioned to you the Teucrium or Germander & I now recollect his having what he called a china rose. I have moreover a shrewd suspicion that Gray's single Arabian Jasmine came from Brannans although Brannan may not know it by that name. You will therefore find out what Jasmines he has & their prices & see whether he has any aloes, Geraniums, myrtles &c which I have not. Possibly he may have another plant of the African Heath which Gray got from him & other large d'ble myrtles as good as Gray's. You will also make the same enquiries of Spurry….

"Brannan had a trefoil which he called a cinquefoil. I know not whether it has yet travelled to Grays. I take it to be the moon-trefoil? a very pretty shrub."

• Hamilton, William, November 22, 1790, in a letter from The Woodlands to Humphry Marshall (Darlington 1849: 577)

"I was truly sorry that I did not see you when you were last at Philadelphia. I hope, the next time you come down, you will give me a call. If I can tempt you no other way, I promise to show you many plants that you have never yet seen, some of them curious."

• Hamilton, William, 1789 and 1790, in a letter to his secretary, Benjamin Hays Smith (quoted in Madsen 1988: A6, A7)

"[September 27, 1789] . . . The first moment after Hilton has finished weeding in the Garden as I directed he should set about weeding the terrace walk as I will endeavour to have it gravelld during the winter. . .

"[October 12, 1789] . . . When the terrace is weeded, the two Borders leading from the House to the Ice House Hill should be cleaned. . .

"[June 12, 1790] . . . The newly planted trees & shrubs along the terrace respecting which you know me to be so anxious, may be alive or dead for ought I know."

• Twining, Thomas, May 30, 1795, diary entry describing The Woodlands (1894: 163)

"Mr. Hamilton's seat was quite in the English style. The house was surrounded by extensive grounds tastefully laid out along the right bank of the Schuylkyl. After dinner the company walked upon this bank, whose slope to the water was planted with a variety of wild and cultivated shrubs. On the other side of the gravel walk which bordered these shrubberies was an extensive lawn which fronted the principal windows of the house. As the company, broken into small parties a few yards from each other, were walking slowing along this walk, a snake, supposed to be of a venomous kind, crossed from the bushes, and disappeared in the grass on our left. Some of the company endeavoring to find it with their sticks, Mr. Hamilton said he had a gardener remarkable in respect to snakes, and the man being called soon discovered it."

• Hamilton, William, November 23, 1796, in a letter from The Woodlands to Humphry Marshall (Darlington 1849: 578)

"I am much obliged to you for the seeds you were so good as to send me, of the Pavia, and of the Podophyllum or Jeffersonia.

"When you were last here it was so late, and you were of course so much hurried, as to prevent your deriving any satisfaction in viewing my exotics. I hope when you come next to Philadelphia, that you will allot one whole day, at least, for the Woodlands. It will not only give me real pleasure to have your company, but I am persuaded it will afford some amusement to yourself.

"Your nephew [Moses Marshall] did me the favour of calling, the other day; but he, too, was in a hurry, and had little opportunity of satisfying his curiosity. I flatter myself, however, that during his short stay he saw enough to induce him to repeat his visit. The sooner this happens, the more agreeable it will be to me.

"When I was at your house, a year ago, I observed several matters in the gardening way, different from any in my possession. Being desirous to make my collection as general as possible, I beg to know if you have, by layers, or any other mode, sufficiently increased any of the following kinds so as to be able, with convenience, to spare a plant of each of them, viz.: — Ledum palustre, Carolina Rhamnus, Azalea coccinea, Mimosa Intsia, and Laurus Borbonia. Any of them would be agreeable to me; as also would be a plant, or seeds Hippophae Canadensis, Aralia hispida, Spiraea nova from the western country; Tussilago Petasites, Polymnia tetragonotheca, Hydrophyllum Canadense, H. Virginicum, Polygala Senega, P. biflora, Napoea scabra dioica, Talinum, a nondescript Sedum from the west, somewhat like the Telephium, two kinds of a genus supposed, by Dr. MARSHALL, to be between Uvularia and Convallaria [probably the Streptopus, of MICHAUX, which the MARSHALLS proposed to call Bartonia], and Rubia Tinctorum. I should also be obliged to you for a few seeds of your Calycanthus, Spigelia Marilandica, Tormentil from Italy, and two of your Oaks with ovate entire leaves."

• Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn, March 24, 1798, journal entry describing The Woodlands (1965: 52–53)

“On returning we saw the house of Hamilton. It is the Villa Borghese of Philad. Its situation is one of the most beautiful that one could see. Placed at a bend in the Skulkill, it overlooks the whole breadth of its limpid waters, while from the other side one sees clearly all the city of Philadelphia. The house is spacious, arranged and decorated in a style rare in America: there were pictures, medallions, bronzes, etc. All this would be nothing elsewhere; but here the eye, deprived for a long time of all that resembles art, dwells with pleasure on all which reminds one of it. With what satisfaction did I not contemplate a good copy of the Venus by Titian of Florence. Hamilton was not there. . . . His farm contains 200 to 300 acres of very mediocre land as is all that in the environs of Philad, but which cultivated could produce something. He leaves it fallow; he is interested only in his house, his hothouse and his Madeira. He carries his fastidiousness about the countryside to such a point that he is in a dreadful humor when one comes to visit it during low tide.”

• La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, François-Alexandre-Frédéric, duc de, 1799 (quoted in Madsen 1988: B3)

“You pass the Schuylkill at Gray’s-Ferry, the road to which runs below Woodlands, the seat of Mr. William Hamilton: it stands high, and is seen upon an eminence from the opposite side of the river.”

• Hamilton, William, May 3, 1799, in a letter from The Woodlands to Humphry Marshall (Darlington 1849: 579-80)

"I have not until this time been able to comply with my promise of sending you a Tea Tree.

"I now take the opportunity of forwarding you... a very healthy one, as well as several of other kinds, which I believe are not already in your collection; together with a small parcel of seeds....

"Should anything else, in my possession, occur to you as a desirable addition to the variety in your garden, I beg you will inform me. You may be assured, whatever it is, if I have two of the kind, you will be welcome to one. Sensible as I am of your kindness and friendship to me, on all occasions, you have a right, and may freely command every service in my power.

"Doctor Parke informs me you were lately in Philadelphia. Had it been convenient to you to call at the Woodlands, I should have had great pleasure in seeing you. I have not heard of Dr. MARSHALL'S having been in this neighbourhood since I was last Bradford. From the pressing invitation I gave him, I am willing to hope that, in case of his coming to town, he will not forget to give me a call. I beg you will present him with my best respects, and request of him to give me a line of information, as to the Menziesia ferruginea, particularly of its vulgar name, if it has one, where it grows, if he knows the name of any person in its neighbourhood, who is acquainted with it, so, as to direct or show it to any one who may go to look after it.

"I intend, next month, to go to Lancaster; and if convenient to me, when there, to spare my George, I have thoughts of sending him to Redstone, for the Menziesia, and Podophyllum diphiyllum. If Dr. MARSHALL knows of any curious and uncommon plants, growing in the neighbourhood with those I have mentioned, I will be obliged to him to give me any intelligence by which he may suppose they can be found: or, if he knows any person or persons at Redstone, or Fort Pitt, who are curious in plants, of whom any questions on the subject may be asked, he cannot do me a greater service than by giving me their names and place of abode.

"I do not know how your garden may have fared during this truly long and severe winter, which has occasioned the loss of several valuable ones in mine; amongst which are the Wise Briar [probably Schrankia uncinata, Willd.; Mimosa Intsia, Walt.] and Hibiscus speciosus, which I got from you. The plants, also, of Podophyllum diphyllum, which I raised last year, from seeds I received from your kindness, have, I fear, been all destroyed. They have not shown themselves above ground this spring. A tree, too (the only one I had of Juglans Pacane, or Illinois Hickory), which I raised twenty-five years ago from seed, is entirely killed.

"In case you have seeds of the kinds named in the list hereto adjoined, I will thank you exceedingly for a few. Any of them which you have not, at present, I beg you will oblige me with them in the ensuing fall. I am very desirous to know if your Iva, or Hog's Fennel, from Carolina, produces seeds. In that case, I must entreat you for a few of them.

"You will permit me, also, to remind you of your promise to spare me a plant or two of the White Persimmon, one of Azalea coccinea, and of the sour Calycanthus. If convenient to let me have a plant or two of your Stuartia Malachodendron, and of Magnolia acuminata, you will do me a great favour.

"Anything left for me at the toll-gate, on the middle ferry wharf to the care of Mr. TRUEMAN, who constantly attends there, will reach me the same day that it arrives there....

"I am very desirous to compare a flower of your Stuartia with J. Bartram's; and will be obliged to you for a good specimen."

• Hosack, David, July 25, 1803, in a letter to Dr. Thomas Parke, regarding the greenhouses at the Elgin Botanic Garden and The Woodlands, (Long 1991: 144) back up to history

"I duly received the plans of Mr. Hamiltons green and hot houses. My greenhouse [exclusive of the hothouses] is now finishing— it will not differ very individually from Mr. Hamiltons. It is 62 feet long 23 deep—and 20 high in the clear.... I shall heat it by flues, they will run under the stays so they will not be seen— my walks will be spacious... hot houses are for next summer's operation. My collection of plants is yet small. I have written to my friends in Europe and in the East and West Indies for their plants. I will also collect the native productions of North and South America. What medical plants can Mr. Bartram supply— request him to send me a catalogue.... I hope William Hamilton will have duplicates of rare and valuable plants — I will supply him anything I possess."

• Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, November 22, 1803, in a letter to his daughter Mrs. Torrey, describing The Woodlands (1888: 2:144–146)

"Since you are quite a gardener, I will mention a visit I made, on my journey, near Philadelphia, to a garden, which in many respects exceeds any in America. It is at the country-seat of Mr. Hamilton, a gentleman of excellent taste and great property. . . . As soon as we had dined, he [Mr. Pickering] called me aside, and told me he had been acquainted with Mr. Hamilton, who was noted for his hospitality, and who lived but half a mile up the river, where he did not doubt we should be kindly entertained. We immediately set out, and arrived about an hour before sunset. His seat is on an eminence, which forms on its summit an extended plain, at the junction of two large rivers.

"Near the point of land a superb but ancient house built of stone is situated. In the front, which commends an extensive and most enchanting prospect, is a piazza, supported on large pillars, and furnished with chairs and sofas, like an elegant room. Here we found Mr. H., at his ease, smoking his cigar. . . . We then walked over the pleasure grounds in front and a little back of the house. It is formed into walks, in every direction, with borders and flowering shrubs and trees. Between are lawns of green grass, frequently mowed to make them convenient for walking, and at different distances numerous copse of native trees, interspersed with artificial groves, which are set with trees collected from all parts of the world. I soon found the fatigue of walking too great for me, though the enjoyments, in a measure, drove away the pain. . . . We then took a turn in the gardens and the green-houses. In the gardens, though ornamented with almost all the flowers and vegetables the earth affords, I was not able to walk long. The green-houses, which occupy a prodigious space of ground, I can not pretend to describe. Every part was crowded with trees and plants from the hot climates, and such as I had never seen, all the spices, the tea-plant in full perfection; in short, he assured us there was not a rare plant in Europe, Asia, or Africa, many from China and the islands in the South Seas, none, of which he had obtained any account, which he had not procured.

"By this time it was so dark that no object could be distinctly examined. We retired to the house. The table was spread with decanters of different wines, and tea was served.

"Immediately after, another table was loaded with large botanical books, containing the most excellent drawings of plants, such as I never could have conceived. He is himself an excellent botanist. . . . When we turned to rare plants, one of the gardeners would be called, and sent with lanterns to the green-house to fetch me a specimen to compare with it. This was done perhaps twenty times.

"Between 10 and 11 an elegant table was spread, with, I believe, not less than twenty covers. After supper, we turned again to the drawings, and at one we retired to bed. Our lodging was in the same style, and I had an excellent night's sleep..."

• Jefferson, Thomas, July 31, 1806, in a letter to William Hamilton back up to history

"I remember seeing in your greenhouse a plant of a couple of feet height in a pot the fragrance of which (from it's gummy bud if I recollect rightly) was peculiarly agreeable to me and you were so kind as to remark that it required only a greenhouse, and that you would furnish me one when I should be in a situation to preserve it. but it's name has entirely escaped me & I cannot suppose you can recollect or conjecture in your vast collection what particular plant this might be. I must acquiese therefore in a privation which my own defect of memory has produced, unless indeed I could some of these days make an impromptu visit to Phila. & recognise it myself at the Woodlands....

"Should a journey at any time promise improvement to it [Hamilton's health], there is no one on which you would be received with more pleasure than at Monticello. Should I be there you will have an opportunity of indulging on a new field some of the taste which has made the Woodlands the only rival which I have known in America to what may be seen in England.

"Thither without doubt we are to go for models in this art. Their sunless climate has permitted them to adopt what is certainly a beauty of the very first order in landscape. Their canvas is of open ground, variegated with clumps of trees distributed with taste. They need no more of wood than will serve to embrace a lawn or a glade. But under the beaming, constant and almost vertical sun of Virginia, shade is our Elysium. In the absence of this no beauty of the eye can be enjoyed. This organ must yield it's gratification to that of the other senses; without the hope of any equivalent to the beauty relinquished. The only substitute I have been able to imagine is this. Let your ground be covered with trees of the loftiest stature. Trim up their bodies as high as the constitution & form of the tree will bear, but so as that their tops shall still unite & yeild dense shade. A wood, so open below, will have nearly the appearance of open grounds. Then, when in the open ground you would plant a clump of trees, place a thicket of shrubs presenting a hemisphere the crown of which shall distinctly show itself under the branches of the trees. This may be effected by a due selection & arrangement of the shrubs, & will I think offer a group not much inferior to that of trees. The thickets may be varied too by making some of them of evergreens altogether, our red cedar made to grow in a bush, evergreen privet, pyrocanthus, Kalmia, Scotch broom. Holly would be elegant but it does not grow in my part of the country....

"You will be sensible by this time of the truth of my information that my views are turned so steadfastly homeward that the subject runs away with me whenever I get on it. I sat down to thank you for kindnesses received, & to bespeak permission to ask further contributions from your collection & I have written you a treatise on gardening generally, in which art lessons would come with more justice from you to me."

• Drayton, Charles, November 2, 1806, describing The Woodlands (Drayton 1806: 49–58) back up to history

"Dined at Mr. Hamilton's, at his elegant seatabout 3 miles from Philadelphia...

"I saw two Knacks, one for drying plants; the other an extensive measure, fit for the pocket. The first is a nest of boxes, the bottom of which are formed by tacking on a coarse linnen, that will not transmit sand, on a light frame, that is 1 1/2 or 2 inches deep. Only the uppermost box has a removable cover of wood as the rest are covers for those below—but the lowest box has its bottom of wood; to sustain the weight of so many boxes that are filled, each, with sand one inch deep. The wooden bottom & the cover, are pierced with many gimlet holes, for the transmission of air & moisture. The specimen of the plant being placed between two papers, is laid on the surface of sand, & then a box with sand is laid on it. There it lays till it is dried. The lower box, stands on 4 low feet, that air may pass through it;—& it has 2 handles, whereby the whole mass of boxes may be removed together.

“The Approach, its road, woods, lawn & clumps, are laid out with much taste & ingenuity. Also the location of the Stables; with a Yard between the house, stables, lawn of approach or park, & the pleasure ground or garden.

"The Fences separating the Park-lawn from the Garden on one hand, & the office yard on the other, are 4 ft. 6 high. The former are made with posts & lathes—the latter with posts, rails & boards. They are concealed with evergreeens hedge—of juniper I think. A common post & rail fence, [not in sight from the house,] winds from the public road gate, & joins to the garden fence, which is a double sloped ditch, with a low fence of posts & 3 rails. They seemed insufficient—at least for turbulent horses or even Sheep. The park lawn is not in good order, for lack of being fed upon. Its fences where it is not visible from the house, is of common posts & rails.

"The Garden consists of a large verdant lawn surrounded by a belt of walk, & shrubbery for some distance. The outer side of the walk is adorned here & there, by scattered forest trees, thick & thin. It is bounded, partly as is described—partly by the Schuylkill & a creek exhibiting a Mill & where it is scarcely noticed, by a common post & rail. The walk is said to be a mile long—perhaps it is something less. One is led into the garden from the portico, to the east or lefthand. or from the park, by a small gate contiguous to the house, traversing this walk, one sees many beauties of the landscape—also a fine statue, symbol of Winter, & age,—& a spacious Conservatory about 200 yards to the West of the Mansion.

"The Conservatory consists of a green house, & 2 hot houses—one being at each end of it. The green house may be about 50 feed long. The front only is glazed. Scaffolds are erected, one higher than another, on which the plants in pots or tubs are placed—so that it is representing the declivity of a mountain. At each end are step-ladders for the purpose of going on each stage to water the plants—& to a walk at the back-wall. On the floor a walk of 5 or 6 feet extends along the glazed wall & at each end a door opens into an Hot house—so that a long walk extends in one line along the stove walls of the houses & the glazed wall of the green house.

"The Hot houses, they may extend in front, I suppose, 40 feet each. They have a wall heated by flues—& 3 glazed walls & a glazed roof each. In the center, a frame of wood is raised about 2 1/2 feet high, & occupying the whole area except leaving a passage along by the walls. In the flue wall, or adjoining, is a cistern for tropic aquatic plants. Within the frame, is composed a hot bed; into which the pots & tubs with plants, are plunged. This Conservatory is said to be equal to any in Europe. It contains between 7 & 8000 plants. To this, the Professor of botany is permitted to resort, with his Pupils occasionally.

"As the position of many plants require external exposure in the Summer season that also is contrived with much ingenuity & beauty.

"There are 2 large oval grass plats in front of the Conservatory—& 2 behind. Holes are nicely made in these, to receive the pots & tubs with their plants, even to their rims. The tallest are placed in the centre, & decreasing to the verge. Thus they represent a miniature hill clothed with choice vegetation.

"The Stable Yard, tho contiguous to the house, is perfectly concealed from it, the Lawn, & the Garden. The mode of concealment from the 2 latter, has been mentioned under the article Fence. It remains to describe the former at [or contiguous to] the side of the house near to the front angle is a piece of masonry [which extends out, equal to the bow-window, & joins it—its cover is flat—it covers or screens the entrance to Cellar,] & is as high as the base of the principal floor bow windows. From the Cellar one enters under the bow window & into this Screen, which is about 6 or 7 feet square. Through these, we enter a narrow area, & ascend some few Steps [close to this side of the house,] into the garden—& thro the other opening we ascend a paved winding slope, which spreads as it ascends, into the yard. This sloping passage being a segment of a circle, & its two outer walls concealed by loose hedges, & by the projection of the flat roofed Screen of masonry, keeps the yard, & I believe the whole passage out of sight from the house—but certainly from the garden & park lawn. See the plan of the Grounds.

"The Stables, & sheds, form the 3rd side of this three sided yard—The stables are seen from the front door of the house, over the hedge that screens the Yard.

"The kitchen garden & Hort. yard, Orchard, which I did not see, are, I suppose behind the Stables, & adjacent."

• Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn, April 1807, describing The Woodlands (1965: 290)

“I spent Sunday with Mr. Hamilton, owner of Wood-land, the famous residence near Philadelphia. The collection of foreign plants and bushes gathered from all three parts of the world, is the most numerous and beautiful which an individual may own. He has some fine pictures most of them signed by famous painters. The situation of the place amidst dark oaks and groves is strangely beautiful; before it lies Philadelphia and the Schuylkill river escaping in the distance in a wavy line.”

• Jefferson, Thomas, July 14, 1808, in a letter to Monsieur de la Cépèd (1944: 373)

“In the meantime, the plants of which he [Governor Lewis] brought seeds, have been very successfully raised in the botanical garden of Mr. Hamilton of the Woodlands, and by Mr. McMahon, a gardener of Philadelphia.”

• Birch, William, 1808, The Country Seats of the United States of North America (1808: unpaginated)

"This noble demesne has long been the pride of Pennsylvania. The beauties of nature and the rarities of art, not more than the hospitality of the owner, attract to it many visitors. It is charmingly situated on the winding Schuylkill and commands one of the most superb water scenes that can be imagined. The ground is laid out in good taste. There are a Hot house and green house containing a collection in the horticultural department, unequalled perhaps in the Unites States. Paintings & c. of the first master embellish the interior of the house and do credit to Mr. Wm. Hamilton, as a man of refined taste."

• Laura, February 1809, original poetry published in The Port Folio about The Woodlands (1809: 180–181)

"To view thy wonders, ROME, I used to sigh,

"To breathe beneath thy pure transparent sky,

"Thy pictures, statues, lofty domes to see,

"And own thy far-spread fame surpass'd in thee;

"Till late, invited by the Woodland's shades,

"I stray'd among its green, embower'd glades,

"Where bright the wave of winding Schuylkill glides,

"And Peace, with Hamilton and Taste, resides.

"Rear'd by his care, unnumber'd balmy sweets,

"The gladden'd eye in gay confusion meets.

"The flow'ry treasures of each distant land,

"Collected, cherish'd by his fostering hand;

"And all the produce of the varying year,

"Profusely scattered at his wish appear.

"Led on by Fancy's secret, magic call,

"I reach the mansion, I ascend the hall;

"What fairy forms I see around me rise!

"What charms, what beauties strike my raptur'd eyes!

"On every side, the living canvas speaks;

"A god pursues, the flying maiden shrieks;

"Or Night, with starry robe and silver bow,

"Sheds her mild lustre on the calm below.

"Then, while within the Woodland's fair domain,

"The Muses rove, and Classic pleasures reign;

"For distant climes no longer will I sigh,

"No longer wish to distant realms to fly;

"But often seek these charming, verdant glades,

"But often wander in these fragrant shades;

"Oft mark the place, where little Naiads mourn,

"With ceaseless sighs, around their Shenstone's urn;

"Where bright the wave of winding Schuylkill glides,

"And Peace, with Hamilton and Taste, resides."

Fig. X, William Strickland, “The Woodlands,” 1809, in The Casket 5 (Oct. 1830): 432.

• Martin, William Dickinson, May 20, 1809, journal entry describing The Woodlands (1959: 34–36)

“The grounds which occupy an extent of nearly ten acres are laid out with uncommon taste, and in the construction of the mansion house, solidity & elegance are combined. . . .

"If thus far the eye has been pleased from viewing these fine productions of art, how much more will it be gratified when contemplating the prospect that bursts upon the sight from the Centre of the Saloon! The verdant mead, the spacious lawn, Schuylkill’s lucid stream, the floating bridge, the waves here checked by the projecting rock, then overshadowed by inclining trees, until, by meandering and luxuriant folds, the winding waters lead the entranced eye to Delaware's proud river, on whose swollen bosom rich merchant ships are seen, descending with the vast surplus of our fertile soil, or others mounting heavily the stream, deep laden with the wealth of foreign climes.

"Such are, in part, the beauties of this delightful scenery, & had the view terminated with highlands or some o'er-towering mountain, no prospect could have been more perfect.

"The attention is next arrested by the grounds, in the arrangement of which, the hand of taste, is every-where visible. Foreign trees, from China, Italy, & Turkey, chosen for their superior foliage, or balmy odours, are diffusely scattered, or mingled with sweet shrubs & plants, bordering the walks: and as the fragrant path winds round, openings, judiciously exposed, such as the situation of the land best admits, diversify the scene. At one spot, the city with its lofty spire appears: at another a vast expanse of water; at a third, verdure & water, happily blending form a complete landscape: and at another where the champaign Country is broken with inequality of ground. Now at the descent is seen a creek o'er hung with rocky fragments, & shaded by the thick forest's gloom. Ascending thence towards the Western side of the Mansion, the green house presents itself to view, & displays to the observer, a scene than which, nothing that has preceded it can excite more admiration. The front, including the hot house on each side, measures One Hundred & forty feet, & it contains nearly ten thousand plants, out of which number may be reckoned between five & six thousand of different species, procured at much trouble & expense from many remote parts of the globe, from South America, The Cape of Good Hope, the Brazils, Botany Bay, Japan, East & West Indies etc., etc. This collection for the beauty & variety of its exotics, surpasses any thing of the kind on this Continent: and among many other rare productions to be seen are, the bread fruit tree, cinnamon, All spice, pepper, mangoes of different kinds, sago, coffee from Bengal, Arabia & the West Indies: tea, green & bohea, mahogany, magnolias, Japan rose, rose apples, cherimolia one of the most esteemed fruits of Mexico, bamboo, Indian god-tree, iron tree of China, ginger, alea fragrants, & several varieties of the sugar cane, five species of which are from Otaheite. To this green House so richly stored too much praise can hardly be given. The curious person views it with delight, & the Naturalist quits it with regret.

". . . . Altho’ much has been done to beautify this delightful seat, much still remains to be done, for the perfecting it in all the capabilities which nature in her boundless profusion has bestowed. These improvements it is said, fill up the leisure moments, & form the most agreeable occupation of its possessor: and that he may long live to pursue this refined pleasure, must be the wish of the public at large, for to them, so much liberality has even been shown in the free access to the house & grounds, that of the enjoyment of the fruits of his care, & cultivated taste, it may be said truly, Non sibi sed aliis.”

• Watson, Joshua Rowley, June 30, 1816, describing The Woodlands (quoted in Foster 1997: 296)

"We drove over to the Woodlands to call on Mr Hamilton. It is a very good house on a large scale, the approach well laid out, and the Trees and Shrubberies fine—The view from it, looking down the Schuylkill is beautiful—near the house in a second ground, is the Lower, or Log Bridge, before noticed,—in the distance you see the river Delawar, Fort Mifling, the Vessels passing up & down that great river, and the Jersy shore finishes the picture."

• Anonymous, 1821, describing an exhibition of an aloe plant (The Plough Boy: 30)

[June 6] "It is believed that, but two of those plants have come to perfection in the United States. One was at Springbury, the seat of William Penn, near Bush Hill. This plant flowered in 1777. From it the late Mr. William Hamilton got a sucker, which he was fortunate enough to rear, and it flowered at the Woodlands, in the year 1804."

• Bernhard, Karl, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1825, describing The Woodlands and Lemon Hill (1828: 141)

"Woodlands has more the appearance of an English park than Mr. Pratt’s country-seat; the dwelling house is large and provided with two balconies, from both of which there is a very fine view, especially of the Schuylkill and floating bridge. Inside of the dwelling there is a handsome collection of pictures; several of them are of the Dutch school. What particularly struck me was a female figure, in entire dishabelle, laying on her back, with half-lifted eyes expressive of exquisite pleasure. There were also orange trees and hot-houses, superintended by a French gardener."

• Hooker, William Jackson, July 1829 (1829: 157)

"In 1802, Mr. Pursh had the charge of the extensive gardens of W. Hamilton, Esq. called the Woodlands, which having, immediately previous, been under the charge of Mr. Lyon, an Englishman, and an eminent collector, were found to be enriched with a number of new and valuable plants; and Mr. Pursh affirms, that through Mr. Lyon's means, more rare and novel plants have been introduced from thence to Europe than through any other channel whatever. The herbarium, as well as the living collection of Lyon, was of great use to Mr. Pursh; and the plants described by him, from specimens seen only in that herbarium, are numerous."

• Downing, Andrew Jackson, 1844 (1844: 31, 33)

"Woodlands, the seat of the Hamilton family, near Philadelphia, was, so long ago as 1805, highly celebrated for its gardening beauties. The refined taste and the wealth of its accomplished owner, were freely lavished in its improvement and embellishment; and at a time when the introduction of rare exotics was attended with a vast deal of risk and trouble, the extensive green-houses and orangeries of this seat, contained all the richest treasures of the exotic flora, and among other excellent gardeners employed, was the distinguished botanist [Frederick] Pursh, whose enthusiastic taste in his favorite science was promoted and aided by Mr. [William] Hamilton. The extensive pleasure grounds were judiciously planted, singly and in groups, with a great variety of the finest species of trees. The attention of the visitor to this place is now arrested by two very large specimens of that curious tree, the Japanese Ginkgo (Salisburia), 60 to 70 feet high, perhaps the finest in Europe or America, by the noble magnolias, and the rich park-like appearance of some of the plantations of the finest native and foreign oaks. From the recent unhealthiness of this portion of the Schuylkill, Woodlands has fallen into decay, but there can be no question that it was, for a long time, the most tasteful and beautiful residence in America….

“This [Waltham House, near Boston], and Woodlands, were the two best specimens of the modern style, as Judge [Richard] Peters’ seat, Lemon Hill, and Clermont, were of the ancient style, in the earliest period of Landscape Gardening among us.”

Images

• 

  James Peller Malcolm, The Woodlands From the Bridge at Gray's Ferry, c. 1792–94, in Beth C. Wees and Medill H. Harvey, Early American Silver in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2013), p. 259.

• 

  William Groombridge, The Woodlands, the Seat of William Hamilton, Esq., 1793.

• 

  William Russell Birch, "Woodlands, the Seat of Mr. Wm. Hamilton, Pennsylva.," 1808, in William Russell Birch and Emily Cooperman, The Country Seats of the United States (2009), p. 69, pl. 14.

• 

  William Strickland, “The Woodlands,” 1809, in The Casket 5 (Oct. 1830): 432.

• 

  William Hamilton, Plan for Kitchen Garden and Orchard, n.d.

Other Resources

The Woodlands Official Website

The Cultural Landscape Foundation

Historic American Buildings Survey Documents (Library of Congress)