View/Vista

History

Travelers’ accounts of their journeys through the early American colonies contain many descriptions of extensive views and fine prospects. The frequent repetition of these and the related terms vista, “eminence,” and by the mid-nineteenth century, “panorama,” suggests the importance of views and view-making in the perception, design, and representation of American landscapes. The significance of composing a view in the landscape is echoed in the visual record of American gardens. Among the most common images of gardens are those framing the façade of the house and those taking a view from the house out toward the landscape.

As A.-J. Dézallier d’Argenville noted in 1712, one aspect of a “good situation, is, the View and Prospect of a fine Country,” and American property owners often sited their houses with this advice in mind. Planters situated their houses along well-traveled rivers and overlooking harbors, both capturing water views and creating highly visible architectural statements of their status and wealth [Figs. 1 and 2]. As at Monte Video [Fig. 3], houses were often sited on eminences to benefit from the natural topography. Gardens built around such houses took full advantage of their natural settings, and treatise writers such as A. J. Downing (1850) admonished gardeners to “study the character of the place” so as not to “shut out and obstruct the beauty of prospect which nature has placed before your eyes.” The frequent use of the words “command” and “commanding” by visitors recording their impressions indicates the assertion of ownership and control that was so clearly an aspect of the visual presentation of these estates. Water, topographic relief, a variety of rock formations, and vegetal and geological diversity were all prized components of views. Distance was also a measure of merit, not only contributing to the beauty of the scene, but also claiming the breadth of “command” over the countryside.

The term “vista,” while less commonly used than the related terms “prospect” and “view,” was similar in its designation of views created within the garden or looking out of the garden into the surrounding landscape. The term “vista” also carried the more particular connotation, as Thomas Sheridan noted in 1789 and Noah Webster in 1850, of the sight lines that created a view, whether made by an avenue, a meadow, or a space between trees. A vista within the garden was generally terminated by a focal point, such as the Chinese temple at Judge William Peters’s Belmont Mansion, near Philadelphia. Even more common are descriptions of vistas from the garden to the world beyond. John Parke Custis (1717), Hannah Callender (1762), George Washington (1785), and Thomas Jefferson (1804) all used the term to describe framed views created by land cleared of trees (see Prospect).

Views were carefully planned and manipulated by a variety of techniques. The architecture of the dwelling often included exterior viewing platforms such as porches, piazzas, porticos, and verandas [Fig. 4]. Views of the house often were choreographed by carefully designed approaches, which allowed a visitor to catch glimpses of the house as he or she arrived and departed. As an 1837 article in the Horticultural Register noted, the view should be “so divided into different scenes or compartments” by various types of vegetation. Garden buildings or seats, such as those seen at Montgomery Place [Fig. 5], and those placed under a cluster of trees in Charles Fraser’s painting of Rice Hope [Fig. 6], punctuated the landscape with invitations to pause and to admire the vista. Distant views were framed by plantings or by pruned trees, as at the Woodlands and at Springland [Fig. 7]. Their composition was also influenced by elevated mounts, such as those flanking the front gates of Mount Vernon; or by openings in hedges, trees, and walls [Fig. 8].

Another element of view-making was the use of barriers (such as walls, fences, and hedges) to screen less picturesque elements of a plantation. This technique was reported in 1790 in a description of the Elias Hasket Derby Farm in Peabody, Mass. John Trumbull’s 1792 plan for Yale College included instructions for a similar barrier that would provide a screen for the nose as well as the eyes. Inscribed on the plan is the directive that “The Temples of Cloacina [or priveys] (which it is too much the custom of New England to place conspicuously), I would wish to have concealed as much as possible, by planting a variety of Shrubs, such as Laburnums, Lilacs, Roses, Snowballs, Laurels, &c.”

In urban settings, where lot size and the proximity of buildings limited sightlines into the distance, gardens often reflected treatises’ instructions to enhance views with smaller property. Such structures as temples or summerhouses were placed in gardens to serve as both focal points and viewing platforms see Belvedere). These effects could also be achieved without building; in 1758 Theophilus Hardenbrook advertised designs for “Niche’s eyetraps trompe l’oeil, to represent a building, terminating a walk, or to hide some disagreeable object” in the New York Gazette. Treatises also suggested enhancing small gardens by laying out walks or terraces with converging (rather than parallel) sides to create the impression of greater depth. Similarly, such features as alleys or avenues with dimensions that appeared to converge created the illusion of distance from the viewer.

Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe has commented that in England the importance of the creation of views and prospects “became apparent when the enclosed medieval walled garden gradually expanded into walled gardens of more than one compartment—preparing the way for a unity of design in the 17th c.” In England the importance of views into the countryside increased as a principle of garden design and as an aspect of changing land use and property-holding practices. For historians of American gardens, understanding the visual organization of space is equally important not only because it was a fundamental principle of imported garden design, but also because it was a key factor in the design of gardens in America’s unique political, economic, and social setting. Abigail Adams’s poetic rendering of the view from Richmond Hill, N.Y., in 1789 evokes not only a romantic view of nature but also a vision of American estates as villas, linking the new nation to a past era of republican ideals. In 1824, Benjamin Silliman described Monte Video in Connecticut as poised between a wilderness of “rocks and forest” and a “vast sheet of cultivation, filled with inhabitants.” His evocative description expresses the landscape’s capacity to inspire both a sense of quiet contemplation and a connection to the industry and “frolicks” of village life.

Understanding the visual logic of American gardens has been particularly important in deciphering gardens as social commentary. For example, the reconstruction of specific viewing platforms, focal points, and openings in the visual barriers of a garden (walls, fences, rows of trees) provides valuable information about the ways in which people were intended to circulate in a garden. At Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, for instance, the stairs and viewing pavilions created an explicit route through the grounds with carefully orchestrated views that are apparent in myriad illustrations and descriptions of the site. In another example, the triangular terraced garden built by Charles Carroll of Carrollton in Annapolis during the 1770s created very different visual effects depending upon where the viewer stood. A passerby on Spa Creek saw terraces that elevated and accentuated an impressive Georgian brick house. A visitor permitted to stroll to the top terrace was treated to a sweeping view of the creek and countryside beyond, an effect enhanced by the foreshortening of the terraces and falls, the placement of pavilions at the ends of the sea wall, and the spreading angle of the brick wall marking the garden’s hypotenuse. Only those permitted into the house, with its privileged views overlooking the terraces, gained the vantage point to appreciate the garden geometry with its 3-4-5 proportions and parterre planting patterns.

The organization of vision may also provide information regarding the social hierarchy that is encoded in gardens. For instance, Dell Upton has argued that the terraced gardens of such plantations as John Tayloe II’s Mount Airy in Richmond County inscribed the status of Virginia’s whites and blacks into the topography. The landscape design of gates, ramps, terraces, and walks created a series of physical and social hurdles that each individual had to navigate differently, depending on his or her social standing in colonial society.

-- Elizabeth Kryder-Reid

Texts

Usages

• Custis, John Parke, April 1717, describing Gov. Alexander Spotswood’s improvements to the gardens of the Governor’s Palace, Williamsburg, Va. (quoted in Martin 1991: 38)

“I happened to be at the Governors, and he was pleased to ask my consent, to cut down some trees that grew on my Land to make an opening, I think he called it a visto, and told me would cut nothing but what was only fitt [sic] for the fire. . . . As to the clearing his visto, he cut down all before him such a wideness as he thought fitt [sic].”

• Anonymous, 22 May 1749, describing the dwelling house of Alexander Garden, Charleston, S.C. (South Carolina Gazette)

“From the house Ashley and Cooper rivers are seen, and all around are visto’s and pleasant prospects.”

• Ball, Joseph, 8 September 1758, describing property in Virginia (Library of Congress, Joseph Ball Letterbook)

“I have a Strang Hankering after a bit of Land upon Linhaven Creek. I would have it on the West or South side where it is Saved already. I want no more than fifty Acres. It must be bounding upon the Creek side; nigh a good Spring: and where I may have a full View of the Sea.”

• Callender, Hannah, 1762, describing Belmont Mansion, estate of Judge William Peters, near Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Vaux 1888: 455)

“From the windows a vista is terminated by an obelisk. . . . We left the garden for a wood cut into vistas. In the midst is a Chinese temple for a summer house. One avenue gives a fine prospect of the city. . . . Another avenue looks to the obelisk.”

• Eddis, William, 1 October 1769, describing the Governor’s House, Annapolis, Md. (1792: 17)

“The garden is not extensive, but it is disposed to the utmost advantage; the centre walk is terminated by a small green mount, close to which the Severn approaches; this elevation commands an extensive view of the bay, and the adjacent county. . . . there are but few mansions in the most rich and cultivated parts of England, which are adorned with such splendid and romantic scenery.”

• Jefferson, Thomas, 1771, describing Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (1944: 26)

“open a vista to the millpond, river, road, etc. qu, if a view to the neighboring town would have a good effect?”

• Anonymous, 28 January 1771, describing the Vauxhall Garden, New York, N.Y. (New York Gazette)

“The Commodious house and large gardens, in the out-ward of this city, known by the name of VAUX-HALL; the situation extremely pleasant, having a very extensive view both up and down the North-River.”

• Anburey, Thomas, 2 September 1781, describing the Moravian community in Bethlehem, Pa. ([1789] 1969: 2:513)

“The house of the single men is upon the same principle as that of the women; upon the roof of which is a Belvidere, from whence you have not only a most delightful prospect, but a distinct view of the whole settlement.”

• Shippen, Thomas Lee, 31 December 1783, describing Westover, seat of William Byrd III, on the James River, Va. (1952: n.p.)

“Imagine then a room of 20 feet square . . . and commanding a view of a prettily falling grass plat . . . about 300 by 100 yards in extent an extensive prospect of James River and of all the Country and some Gentlemen’s seats on the other side.”

• Washington, George, 15 March 1785, describing Mount Vernon, plantation of George Washington, Fairfax County, Va. (Jackson and Twohig, eds., 1978: 4:103)

“Began to open Vistos throw the Pine grove on the Banks of H. Hole.”

• Enys, Lt. John, 1 December 1787, describing the mall in Boston, Mass. (Cometti, ed., 1976: 202)

“After Dinner we took a walk on the Mall. . . . From hence we went to Beacon Hill from whence we had a Charming View of the town and harbour.”

• Enys, Lt. John, 26 January 1788, describing Belvedere, estate of Gov. John Eager Howard, Baltimore, Md. (Cometti, ed., 1976: 235)

“there are some very Charming prospects from some of the Hills, among the rest from the Seat of Colol. Howard which is situated on an eminence but is well coverd by trees from all the cold winds, has a charming View of a Water fall at a Mill, a long Rapid below it, a full View of the town of Baltimore and the Point with the shipping in the harbour, the Bason and all the Small craft, with a very distant prospect down the river towards the Chasapeak Bay. The whole terminated by the surrounding Hills forms a fine Picture.”

• G., L., 15 June [1788], describing the Woodlands, home of William Hamilton, near Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Madsen 1989: 19)

“[The walks were] 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.”

• Adams, Abigail, 1789, describing Richmond Hill, N.Y. (quoted in Hammond 1982: 179)

“In front of the house the noble Hudson rolls, his majestic waves bearing upon his bosom innumerable small vessels which are constantly carrying the rich products of the neighboring soil to the busy hand of a more extensive commerce. Beyond the Hudson rises to our view the fertile country of the Jerseys, covered with a golden harvest and pouring forth plenty like the cornucopia of Ceres. On the right hand an extensive plain presents us with a view of fields covered with verdure and pastures full of cattle; on the left, the city opens upon us, intercepted only by clumps of trees and some rising ground. . . . If my days of fancy and romance were not past, I could find here an ample field for indulgence.”

• Morse, Jedidiah, 1789, describing Nassau Hall, Princeton, N.J. ([1789] 1970: 294)

“Its situation is exceedingly Pleasant and healthful. The view from the college balcony is extensive and charming.”

• Smith, William Loughton, 8 September 1790, describing a house in Albany, N.Y. (1917: 54)

“I took a walk to General Schyler’s; his house is a large, square brick one, with a flat roof; it stands on a rising ground above the river, and enjoys a commanding view.”

• Bentley, William, 22 October 1790, describing Elias Hasket Derby Farm, Peabody, Mass. (1962: 1:180)

“[231] 22. . . . The Principal Garden is in three parts divided by an open slat fence painted white, & the fence white washed. It includes 7/8 of an Acre. We ascend from the house two steps in each division. The passages have no gates, only a naked arch with a key stone frame, of wood painted white above 10 feet high. Going into the Garden they look better than in returning, in the latter view they appear from the unequal surface to incline towards the Hill. . . . Beyond the Garden is a Spot as large as the Garden which would form an admirable orchard now improved as a Kitchen garden, & has not an ill effect in its present state.”

• Bartram, William, 1791, describing St. Simon’s Island, Ga. (1928: 72)

“This delightful habitation was situated in the midst of a spacious grove of Live Oaks and Palms, near the strand of the bay, commanding a view of the inlet.”

• Smith, William Loughton, 23 April 1791, describing Mount Vernon, plantation of George Washington, Fairfax County, Va. (1917: 63)

“the view extends up and down the river a considerable distance, the river is about two miles wide, and the opposite shore is beautiful, as is the country along the river . . . embracing the magnificence of the river with the vessels sailing about; the verdant fields, woods, and parks.”

• Spooner, Rev. John Jones, 1793, describing May-cox Plantation, estate of David Meade, Prince George’s County, Va. (1923: 8)

“These grounds contain about twelve acres, laid out on the banks of the James river, in a most beautiful and enchanting manner. Forest and fruit trees are here arranged, as if nature and art had conspired together to strike the eye most agreeably. Beautiful vistas, which open as many pleasing views of the river; the land thrown into many artificial hollows or gentle swellings, with the pleasing verdure of the turf; and the complete order in which the whole is preserved, altogether tend to form it one of the most delightful rural seats that is to be met with in the United States, and do honour to the taste and skill of the proprietor, who was also the architect.”

• La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, FrançoisAlexandre-Frédéric, duc de, 1795–97, describing Pottsgrove, Pa. (1799: 1:35)

“The landscape is beautiful along this road, abounding with a great variety of fine views, wonderfully enlivened by the verdure of the cornfields and meadows. . . . If agriculture were better understood in these parts; if the fields were well mowed and well fenced; and if some trees had been left standing in the middle or on the borders of meadows, the most beautiful parts of Europe could not be more pleasing.”

• Twining, Thomas, 7 May 1795, describing Belvedere, estate of Gov. John Eager Howard, Baltimore, Md. (1894: 115)

“Situated upon the verge of the descent upon which Baltimore stands, its grounds formed a beatiful slant toward the Chesapeak. From the taste with which they were laid out, it would seem that America already possessed a Haverfield or a Repton. The spot, thus indebted to nature and judiciously embellished, was as enchanting within its own proper limits as in the fine view which extended far beyond them. The foreground presented luxurious shrubberies and sloping lawns: the distance, the line of the Patapsco, and the country bordering on Chesapeak Bay.”

• Brown, Charles Brockden, 1798, describing the fictional estate of Wieland, near Philadelphia, Pa. (pp. 58–59)

“One sunny afternoon, I was standing in the door of my house, when I marked a person passing close to the edge of the bank that was in front. ...

“such figures were seldom seen by me, except on the road or field. This lawn was only traversed by men whose views were directed to the pleasures of the walk, or the grandeur of the scenery.”

• Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 1798, describing the countryside of Virginia (1977: 473–75)

“When you stand upon the summit of a hill, and see an extensive country of woods and fields without interruption spread before you, you look at it with pleasure. On the Virginia rivers there are a thousand such positions. But this pleasure is perhaps very much derived from a sort of consciousness of superiority of position to all the monotony below you. But turn yourself so as to include in your view a wide expanse of Water, contrasting by its cool blue surface, the waving, and many colored carpet of the Earth, your pleasure is immediately doubled, or rather a new and much greater pleasure arises. An historical effect is produced. The trade and the cultivation of the country croud [sic] into the mind, the imagination runs up the invisible creeks, and visits the half seen habitations. A thousand circumstances are fancied which are not beheld, and the indications of what probably exists, give the pleasure which its view would afford. Having satiated your eye with this prospect, retire within the Grove, so that the foreground shall consist of trees, and shadowy earth. The landscape is immediately lightened up with a thousand new beauties, arising from the novelty of the Contrast. This particular effect, of seeing a distant view glittering among near objects is familiar to every observer. The Landscape is now become a perfect composition.”

• Anonymous, 2 October 1798, describing a property for sale in Spotsylvania County, Va. (Virginia Herald)

“The improvements on it are, a comfortable dwelling house, with all necessary out houses, situated on a beautiful eminence, commanding a view of the greater part of the lower ground.”

• Ogden, John Cosens, 1800, describing Nazareth, Pa. (p. 45)

“From the top of this house [recitation room and Inspector’s study], we were entertained with picture-like views in every direction.”

• Thornton, Anna Maria Brodeau, 22 September 1802, describing Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (Library of Congress, Papers of Anna Maria Brodeau, 1793–1863)

“The House is situated on the very summit of the mountain, on a circular level, formed by art, commanding a view of all the surrounding country, the small town of Charlottesville and a little winding river . . . with a view of the blue ridge & even more distant mountains form a beautiful scene on the north side of the house.—There is something grand & awful in the situation but far from convenient or in my opinion agreeable—it is a place you wo’d rather look at now & then than live at.”

• Anonymous, 18 February 1803, describing a property for sale in Orange County, Va. (Virginia Herald)

“There is a convenient dwelling house and other out houses, fixed on an elevated situation and commands a beautiful view of the mountains and of the lower country, which added to the health and agreeableness of the neighbourhood, renders the place truly desirable.”

• Jefferson, Thomas, 1804, describing Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (Massachusetts Historical Society, Jefferson Papers)

“Vistas to very interesting objects may be permitted, but in general it is better so to arrange the thickets as that they may have the effect of vista in various directions. . . .

“the ground between the upper & lower roundabouts to be laid out in lawns & clumps of trees, the lawns opening so as to give advantageous catches of prospect to the upper roundabout.

“Vistas from the lower roundabout to good portions of prospect.”

• Caldwell, John Edwards, 1808, describing Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville,Va. (1951: 38–39)

“The roofs of the passages, and range of buildings, form an agreeable walk, being flat and floored, and are to have a Chinese railing round them; they rise but a little height above the lawn, that they may not obstruct the view.”

• Martin, William Dickinson, 20 May 1809, describing the Woodlands, seat of William Hamilton, near Philadelphia, Pa. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

“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 meadow, 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 in luxuriant folds, the winding waters lead the entranced eye to Delaware’s proud river, on whose swollen bosom rich merchant ships are seen. . . . 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.”

• Peale, Charles Willson, 1810, describing Belfield, estate of Charles Willson Peale, Germantown, Pa. (quoted in Miller and Ward 1991: 54)

“In this view imagine that you see a beautiful Meadow on the right. The Tennants House seems to terminate the lane, from thence it turns up a Gentle declivity to the Mansian, of which you see the Top of a Red roof on the left over the hill. formerly a road went over this hill at the dotted lines.” [Fig. 9]

• Gerry, Elbridge, Jr., July 1813, describing Mount Vernon, plantation of George Washington, Fairfax County, Va. (1927: 174)

“Back of the mansion is a summer house, which commands an elegant view of the Potomac.” [Fig. 10]

• Gerry, Elbridge, Jr., July 1813, describing the White House, Washington, D.C. (1927: 180–81)

“A door opens at each end, one into the hall, and opposite, one into the terrace, from whence you have an elegant view of all the rivers &c.”

• Peale, Charles Willson, 22 November 1815, in a letter to his daughter, Angelica Peale, describing