Parmentier’s Horticultural and Botanical Garden

Overview

Alternate Names: Parmentier's Garden; Mrs. Parmentier's Garden Site Dates: 1825–1833
Site Owner: André Joseph Ghislain Parmentier (1780–1830); Sylvie Parmentier (1793–1882)
Associated People: Grant Thorburn (1773–1863), agent; Dr. Adrian Vanderveer (1796–1857); George Fuller (d. 1830), laborer; Owen Redden (dates unknown), laborer
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Texts

• Anonymous, January 4, 1828, “Rural Scenery” (New England Farmer 6: 187)

“Landscape and Picturesque Gardens.—Among the embellishments which attend the increase of wealth, the cultivation of the sciences, and the refinement of taste, none diversify and heighten the beauty of rural scenery, more than picturesque and landscape gardens. . . .

“For the introduction into this country of the design and execution of landscape and picturesque gardening, the public is much indebted to Mr. A. Parmentier, proprietor of the Horticultural Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, two miles from this city. His own garden, for which he made so advantageous a choice, may give us some idea of his taste. The borders are composed of every variety of trees and shrubs that are found in his nurseries. The walks are sinuous, adapted to the irregularity of the ground, and affording to visitors a continual change of scenery, which is not enjoyed in gardens laid out in even surfaces, and in right lines. His dwelling and French saloon are in accordance with the surrounding rural aspect. In his gardens are 25,000 vines planted and arranged in the manner of the vineyards of France.”