Eminence

History

The term eminence, indicating an elevated rise or hill, functioned in landscape design as a site for monuments, dwellings, and other structures, and as a topographic feature in the landscape. While the terms “mound” and “mount” were also used to describe a raised portion of a garden, an eminence generally denoted a natural feature that was larger in scale.

As a building platform for a dwelling or a garden structure, an eminence created the opportunity to view the surrounding land.scape from the garden. This raised feature also enhanced the prominence of any struc.ture on it, thus making it visible from a distance (see Prospect and View). Both effects were noted by visitors to Mount Vernon, which William Russell Birch in 1808 described as “founded upon a rocky eminence, a dignified height on the Potomac” [Fig. 1]. Garden structures, such as the tower (proposed in 1831) at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass., the rustic pavilion recommended by A. J. Downing (1848), and the fanciful building depicted in the 1790s by Joseph Steward at Dartmouth College [Fig. 2], were placed on eminences to provide a retreat in which to enjoy the prospect.

In addition to their enhanced visual and, by extension, social status, properties built on eminences were more easily defensible in America’s frontier settings and took advan.tage of cooling breezes in warmer climates. Structures on eminences also offered visual command of an estate, as noted in the 1817 advertisement of a farm in Culpeper County, Va. Such surveillance was a vital part of maintaining the plantation labor system of large slave populations. In urban settings, town planners sited key monuments on emi.nences, making them focal points in the townscape and thus accentuating seats of power. For example, Francis Nicholson in 1694 placed the Anglican church and the colonial Capitol on eminences in his town plan of Annapolis, Md., and Pierre-Charles L’Enfant’s plan for Washington, D.C., was predicated upon an elevated setting for the capitol building.

As a topographical landscape feature, the eminence served as a focal point, a viewing platform, and a backdrop, like the “parklike eminences” in Cincinnati, Ohio, described by Harriet Martineau in 1835. At Mount Auburn Cemetery, the eminence rising 125 feet above the Charles River was described in 1831 by H.A.S. Dearborn as “a prominent and imposing feature in the landscape, of which it becomes the centre.” An eminence, such as the one described by Rev. Manasseh Cutler at Gray’s Tavern in Philadelphia in 1787, also offered a gradual slope against which to plant a variety of flowers and shrubs. An eminence was also significant in American gardens for establishing the relationship of the garden to the surrounding landscape and for capitalizing on views of broad rivers, valleys, and other features of the “New World” setting. Sites on riverbank eminences, such as that at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia depicted in 1838, were particularly valued for their views of water [Fig. 3].

-- Elizabeth Kryder-Reid