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Difference between revisions of "Belmont (Philadelphia, PA)"

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'''Belmont Mansion''', a country estate on the Schuylkill River outside of Philadelphia, was the home of the English expatriate lawyer and judge [[William Peters]].
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{{Place
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|Established Present=No
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|Established Date=1743
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|Established Circa=No
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|Established Concurrence=Exact
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|Established Questionable=No
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|Established HasEndDate=No
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|Established Present End=No
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|Established Circa End=No
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|Established Questionable End=No
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|Through Present=No
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|Through Date=1751
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|Through Circa=No
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|Through Concurrence=Exact
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|Through Questionable=No
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|Through HasEndDate=No
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|Through Present End=No
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|Through Circa End=No
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|Through Questionable End=No
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|Location=Philadelphia, PA
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|Coordinates=39.9909, -75.2131
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|Geolocation link=coordinates
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|Condition=Altered
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|Keywords=Avenue; Chinese manner; Green; Hedge; Labyrinth; Obelisk; Prospect; Seat; Statue; Summerhouse; Temple; Vase/Urn; View/Vista; Walk; Wood/Woods
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|Site owners={{Site owner
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|Name=William Peters
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|Owned Present=No
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|Owned Date=1702
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|Owned Circa=No
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|Owned Concurrence=Exact
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|Owned Questionable=No
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|Owned HasEndDate=Yes
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|Owned Present End=No
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|Owned Date End=1789
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|Owned Circa End=No
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|Owned Concurrence End=Exact
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|Owned Questionable End=No
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}}{{Site owner
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|Name=Richard Peters
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|Owned Present=No
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|Owned Date=1744
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|Owned Circa=No
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|Owned Concurrence=Exact
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|Owned Questionable=No
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|Owned HasEndDate=Yes
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|Owned Present End=No
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|Owned Date End=1828
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|Owned Circa End=No
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|Owned Concurrence End=Exact
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|Owned Questionable End=No
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}}
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|Other resources={{ExternalLink
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|External link URL=http://www.archives.upenn.edu/WestPhila1777/map.php
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|External link text=Mapping West Philadelphia Landowners in 1777
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}}{{ExternalLink
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|External link URL=http://www.historic-details.com/places/pa/phila/fairmount-park-houses/belmont-mansion-fairmount-park/
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|External link text=Fairmount Park website
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}}{{ExternalLink
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|External link URL=http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/12321
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|External link text=Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
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}}
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}}
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'''Belmont''', a country estate on the [[Schuylkill River]] outside of Philadelphia, was the home of the English lawyer and jurist [[William Peters]] (1702–1789) and of his son, the judge and agriculturalist [[Richard Peters]] (1744–1828). The house, which survives, is one of the earliest instances of English Palladian style adapted to the architecture and landscaping of an American villa.
  
==Overview==
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<hr>
'''Alternate Names:'''
 
  
'''Site Dates:''' 1743-1751
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==History==
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[[File:0301.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, William Russell Birch, “View from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country Seats of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.]]
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[[William Peters]] named his estate Belmont in honor of its lofty situation on a height commanding panoramic views of the [[Schuylkill River]] and surrounding countryside [Fig. 1]. [[William Peters|Peters’s]] initial purchase in 1742 consisted of 113 acres of farmland on the west bank of the river, and extended from the water’s edge up a steep ascent to a point one mile north that [[William Peters|Peters]] would later punctuate with a monumental [[obelisk]]. The property also included a small island of about two acres, still known as Peters Island.<ref>Richard Peters Jr., “Belmont Mansion,” ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, 81, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref>  Belmont’s location would remain one of the most admired on the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]] for many decades. In the 1780s, when “the beautiful banks of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]] [were] everywhere covered with elegant country houses,” an English gentleman visiting Philadelphia would still single out Belmont as “the most enchanting spot that nature can embellish.”<ref>Anonymous English translator’s note in François Jean, Marquis de Chastellux, ''Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782'', 2 vols. (London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787), 1:301, [https://www.Zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemkey/itd638fb view on Zotero].</ref>
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Immediately after acquiring the Belmont property, [[William Peters|Peters]] refurbished and expanded an existing small stone cottage as a temporary residence and began developing what he called a “Country Retirement”: a luxury villa surrounded by an ornamental landscape that would provide a pleasurable respite from the business of town life.<ref>Mark Reinberger, “Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]; Fiske Kimball, “Belmont, Fairmount Park,” ''Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin'' 22 (1927): 334, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/H32TJPUE view on Zotero].</ref> A local precedent for this kind of suburban retreat was Thomas Penn’s [[Springettsbury]] estate on the opposite side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]]. In the 1730s Penn had laid out the property as a [[pleasure garden]], with features such as [[parterre]]s, tree-lined [[alley]]s, and [[avenue]]s described in detail by [[Hannah Callender Sansom]], who visited Belmont in June of 1762. He combined these features with a densely planted [[wood]] and a [[labyrinth]] of clipped cedar and spruce, and ornamental structures such as the [[obelisk]], [[Chinese Taste|Chinese]] [[temple]], and [[statue]]s.<ref>For the connection between this hybrid, or “transitional” landscape style and English Palladian architecture, see Reinberger 1998, 27, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]; Kimball 1927, 341, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/H32TJPUE view on Zotero].</ref> Peters sited his house near the center of the property, with a direct view of the [[obelisk]] at one end, and Peters Island at the other.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 25, and fig. 36, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Belmont may have influenced Penn’s efforts to update the landscaping of [[Springettsbury]] in the early 1740s by softening the rigid formality of his original plantings with more naturalistic and picturesque elements. In 1743, he wrote from England informing Peters that he hoped to visit Belmont soon and to “[gain] something by your experience.”<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
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In addition to developing one of the grandest ornamental landscapes in the American colonies, [[William Peters|Peters]] built a house at Belmont that was extremely fashionable for its time and place. It was among the first in America to imitate the distinctive suburban villa style that flourished in England early in the 18th century and that was modeled, in turn, on the refined classicism of the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508&ndash;1580).<ref>Martin Jay Rosenblum, R.A. & Associates, ''Belmont Mansion, Fairmount Park; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania'' (Philadelphia: The Fairmount Park Council for Historic Sites for the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, 1992), 7&ndash;10, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITTTSPER view on Zotero].</ref> In addition to drawing on examples he had seen in England, [[William Peters|Peters]] appears to have derived ideas from English pattern books, such as [[James Gibbs|James Gibbs's]] ''Book of Architecture'' (1728), William Kent’s ''Designs of Inigo Jones'' (1727), and Batty Langley's ''The City and Country Builder’s and Workman’s Treasury of Designs'' (1740).<ref>Reinberger 1998, 22&ndash;23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]; Kimball 1927: 338&ndash;339, 341, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/H32TJPUE view on Zotero]; Amy Cole Ives, “Belmont Mansion, A Conditions Survey of the Ornamental Plaster Ceilings of Rooms 101 and 205,” (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1996), 13&ndash;14, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/4DEVP3HC view on Zotero].</ref> As originally executed, [[William Peters|Peters’s]] house at Belmont featured a symmetrical design, with a nearly square central hall flanked by small side chambers in each corner. The woodwork of the fireplace and pedimented doorways and the plasterwork ornamenting the ceiling were all executed in accordance with current English fashion.<ref>Ives 1996, 15&ndash;16, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/4DEVP3HC view on Zotero].</ref> Musical motifs in the plasterwork of the central hall presumably reflect the use of that space for instrumental performances. [[William Peters|Peters]] is known to have imported music books from England, and in 1742 he requested that Thomas Penn find him a musician who could play the violin and harpsichord.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 25, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> As further evidence of his taste for the arts, [[William Peters|Peters]] displayed a collection of paintings and bronze sculptures in the central hall.<ref>Hannah Callender Sansom, ''The Diary of Hannah Callender Sansom: Sense and Sensibility in the Age of the American Revolution'', ed. Susan E. Klepp and Karin Wulf (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010), 182&ndash;183 [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/33F7ZBKJ view on Zotero].</ref>
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[[William Peters|Peters's]] home at Belmont was smaller than other country houses in the area. Soon after its completion in 1745, [[William Peters|Peters]] began its expansion, adding outbuildings on the north and south sides which he connected to the central structure by means of covered [[piazza]]s.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 21, 31, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]; see also Kimball 1927, 333, 335, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/H32TJPUE view on Zotero].</ref> Even after these additions, <span id="ChastelluxTranslator_cite"></span> an English visitor characterized Belmont as “a tasty little box” ([[#ChastelluxTranslator|view text]]), and <span id="Chastellux_cite"></span> the Marquis de Chastellux noted succinctly that is was “not large” ([[#Chastellux|view text]]). [[Hannah Callender Sansom|Hannah Callender Sansom's]] account suggests that [[William Peters|Peters’s]] additions served to dramatize the opening up of the landscape from the interior space of the house. Visitors entered through one of the added side buildings and passed through the connecting [[piazza]] to the lavishly decorated hall. There, they were greeted by the sight of a panoramic landscape, or, as [[Hannah Callender Sansom|Sansom]] put it, <span id="Callender_cite"></span> by a “[[prospect]] bounded by the Jerseys like a blue ridge” ([[#Callender|view text]]).<ref>George Vaux, “Extracts from the Diary of Hannah Callender,” ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 12, no. 4 (January 1889): 455, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/STWXKSK3 view on Zotero]. For this interpretation of the visitor’s experience at Belmont, see Reinberger 1998, 32, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[William Peters|Peters]] continued to add acreage to Belmont through subsequent land purchases made in 1743 (113 acres), 1749 (22 acres), and 1764 (11 acres).<ref>For more information, see the website [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/WestPhila1777/map.php “Mapping West Philadelphia: Landowners in October 1777”].</ref> His correspondence over that time indicates a shift in his conception of the estate from a “retirement” (or, suburban villa and [[pleasure garden]]) to a “[[plantation]]” (or working farm), although he continued to employ a full-time gardener, George Severitt, as late as 1767.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 31, 37, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
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Following [[William Peters|Peters's]] return to England in 1768, Belmont became the property of his eldest son, [[Richard Peters|Richard]], a federal judge and prominent abolitionist, who welcomed many notable visitors and carried out further additions to the property. [[Richard Peters]] reduced the size of the [[pleasure garden]]s, confining them to the area immediately surrounding the house. He converted the rest of the property to farmland, as it had been at the time of his father’s initial purchase, but now with an emphasis on experimental agriculture. He raised the grade around the house by three feet, covering the original stone foundation, and constructed a [[piazza]] across the front, bringing the house and landscape into closer unity. He also built an [[icehouse]], a [[hothouse]], and a springhouse on the property.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 22, 33, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]; Rosenblum & Associates, 1992, 5, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITTTSPER view on Zotero].</ref>
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From early in the 19th century, Belmont’s grounds were imbued with a sense of history. <span id="Logan_cite"></span>[[Deborah Norris Logan]] described the garden in 1819 as “exhibiting a most perfect sample of the old taste” ([[#Logan|view text]]). <span id="Breck_cite"></span>Nine years later, the Philadelphia merchant Samuel Breck (1771&ndash;1862) called attention to the “lofty hemlocks, placed there by [[Richard Peters|[Richard Peter’s]]] ancestors, nearly a century ago,” a “chestnut tree . . . planted by the hand of Washington,” and hedges “trimmed and decorated in the style of the seventeenth century” ([[#Breck|view text]]). <span id="Downing_cite"></span> Most significantly, [[Andrew Jackson Downing]] described Belmont in his pioneering ''Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening'' (1841) as “a noted specimen of the [[ancient style|ancient]] school of [[landscape gardening]]” ([[#Downing|view text]]). Although Belmont remained in the possession of the Peters family for another 25 years following [[Richard Peters]]'s death in 1828, the Columbia Railroad laid tracks for a new line (together with machinery, workshops, and a depot) within 200 feet of the house in 1832.<ref>Rosenblum & Associates 1992, 5, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITTTSPER view on Zotero]; Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 91&ndash;92, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero]; Peters 1925, 81, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero]; J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, ''History of Philadelphia, 1609&ndash;1884'', 3 vols. (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1884), 3: 1865, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/8RJIVE6G view on Zotero].</ref> Belmont reportedly served as a stop on the Underground Railroad from about 1847<ref>Audrey R. J. Thornton, ''Crown Jewel of Fairmount Park Belmont: Historic Home of the Peters Family in Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park'' (Glenside, PA: American Women’s Heritage Society, 2001), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/KG9WHS66 view on Zotero].</ref> until 1850, when the tracks were realigned along an alternative route in order to bypass the steep grade. In 1869 the city of Philadelphia purchased the property for inclusion in Fairmount Park and the house was converted into a restaurant. It now operates as an Underground Railroad museum open to the public.
  
'''Site Owner(s):'''  
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''Robyn Asleson''
  
'''Site Designer(s):'''
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<hr>
  
'''Location:''' [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fairmount+Park/@39.987774,-75.195498,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x89c6b903670f2153:0xd9f3bb51b044a47d View on Google Maps]
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==Texts==
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*<div id="Callender"></div> [[Hannah Callender Sansom|Sansom, Hannah Callender]], June 30, 1762, diary entry (2010: 182&ndash;83)<ref name="Callender 2010">Callender 2010, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/33F7ZBKJ view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Callender_cite|back up to History]]
  
==History==
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:“. . . went to [[William Peters| Will: Peters's]] house, having some small aquaintance with his wife who was at home with her Daughter Polly. they received us kindly in one wing of the House, after a while we passed thro' a covered Passage to the large hall, well furnished, the top adorned with instruments of musick, coat of arms, crest, and other ornaments in Stucco, its sides by paintings and [[Statue]]s in Bronze. from the Front of this hall you have a [[prospect]] bounded by the Jerseys, like a blueridge, and the Horison, a broad [[walk]] of english Cherre trys leads down to the river, the doors of the hous opening opposite admitt a [[prospect]] [of] the length of the garden thro' a broad gravel [[walk]], to a large hansome [[Summerhouse|summer house]] in a [[green|grean]], from these Windows down a [[vista|Wisto]] terminated by an [[Obelisk]], on the right you enter a [[labyrinth|Labarynth]] of [[hedge]] and low ceder with spruce, in the middle stands a [[Statue]] of Apollo, note: in the garden are the [[Statue]]s of Dianna, Fame & Mercury, with [[urn]]s. we left the garden for a [[wood]] cut into [[vista|Visto’s]], in the midst a [[Chinese Taste|chinese]] [[temple]], for a [[Summerhouse|summer house]], one [[avenue]] gives a fine [[prospect]] of the City, with a Spy glass you discern the houses distinct, Hospital, & another looks to the [[obelisk|Oblisk]].”
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*<div id="Chastellux"></div>Chastellux, François Jean, Marquis de, c. 1780&ndash;82 (1787: 1:304)<ref name="Chastellux_1787"> Chastellux 1787, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITD6E8FB view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Chastellux_cite|back up to History]]
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:“Nothing can equal the beauties of the coup d'oeil which the banks of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]] present, in descending towards the south to return to Philadelphia.
  
Built between 1743 and 1751 (with subsequent alterations), Belmont is one of the earliest American interpretations of the distinctive suburban villa style associated with the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. As with 17th- and 18th-century English interpretations of Palladianism, Belmont was symmetrical in design with a central hall flanked by small side chambers. Motifs represented in the molded plaster ceiling of the central hall derive from English examples, such as those illustrated in William Jones’s ''The Gentlemen’s or Builder’s Companion'' (1739). Peters planted large formal gardens and started expanding the four-room house shortly after the birth of his son, Richard, in 1744. A two-story brick structure was added in 1745, and the 2 1/2-story main building in 1755. For a while, these sections of the house were connected by a covered walk.
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:“I found a pretty numerous company assembled at dinner at the Chevalier de la Luzerne’s, which was augmented by the arrival of the Comte de Custine and the M. de Laval. In the evening we took them to see the President of the Congress, who was not at home, and then to [[Richard Peters|Mr. Peters]], the Secretary to the Board of War, to whom it was my first visit. His house is not large, nor his office of great importance.
Elaborate formal gardens were laid out by William Peters in 1745. Highly attuned to recent English practice in architecture and landscaping. His decision to combine such naturalistic elements as the [[wood/woods|wood]] with more reflects the influence of English aesthetic concepts that would not affect most other Philadelphia-area gardens for another few decades. traditional, formal design features [[avenue]]s and [[alley]]s.  
 
  
Following William Peters’s return to England, Belmont became the property of his eldest son, Richard, who welcomed many notable visitors. Among them was the French military officer François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis De Chastellux, who observed that “the beautiful banks of the Schuylkill are everywhere covered with elegant country houses” and that Belmont was situated “on the most enchanting spot that nature can embellish.” Marquis De Chastellux, Travels in North America, 1780-1781-1782 , ed. Basil Hall, 141
 
http://archive.org/stream/marquistravels00chasrich/marquistravels00chasrich_djvu.tx
 
  
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*<div id="ChastelluxTranslator"></div> Anonymous English translator of Marquis De Chastellux, c. 1787 (1787: 1:301)<ref name ="Chastellux_1787"> Chastellux 1787, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITD6E8FB view on Zotero].</ref> [[#ChastelluxTranslator_cite|back up to History]]
  
Of all the gardens and plantations described by Hannah Callender and Deborah Logan, the only remains at present are of the enclosure to the west, a great rectangle centering on the octagonal bay of the stone house, bordered by an evergreen hedge (clearly show on a map of 1870), of which several hemlocks, now grown tall, still remain on the north, while great oaks mark the line on the south. The remains of the great avenue of hemlocks on the center line of the mansion house, which Downing, the landscape gardener, described in the middle of the century as the grandest in the country, likewise appear on the map of 1870. The western terminus of the vista was at the New Ford Road, the successor of which takes its name, Monument Ave? nue, from the obelisk, already built in 1762. Like the summerhouse and the Chinese temple, in the height of the then reigning taste, it was one of the ornamental features prescribed by the prevailing style of English landscape gardening. Both from the straightness of the avenue, however, and from the character of the gardens near the house, with their straight paths and clipped evergreen labyrinth, we see that Peters?as D s Deborah Logan realized ? preferred the formality of an earlier day
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:“The beautiful banks of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]] are every where covered with elegant country houses; among others, those of [[Springettsbury|Mr. Penn]], the late proprietor, [[William Hamilton|Mr. Hamilton]], and [[Richard Peters|Mr. Peters]], late Secretary to the Board of War, are on the most delightful situations. The tasty little box of the last gentleman is on the most enchanting spot that nature can embellish, and besides the variegated beauties of the rural banks of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], commands the Delaware, and the shipping mounting and descending it, where it is joined at right angles by the former. From hence is the most romantic ride up the river to the Falls, in which the opposite bank is likewise seen beautifully interspersed with the country houses of the opulent citizens of the capital. On your arrival at the Falls, every little knoll or [[eminence]] is occupied by one of these charming retreats.
Subsequently, the estate was utilized by the railroad, an oil refinery, and a country resort. As part of a project to preserve the quality of Philadelphia's water supply, the city purchased Belmont in 1869 for inclusion in [[Fairmount Park]].  
 
  
  
==Texts==
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*Watson, Joshua Rowley, June 17, 1816, diary entry (quoted in Foster 1997: 292)<ref>Kathleen A. Foster, ''Captain Watson’s Travels in America: The Sketchbooks and Diary of Joshua Rowley Watson, 1772&ndash;1818'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997,) 292, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/J6Q29IVS view on Zotero].</ref>
  
* June 4, 1762, [[Hannah Callendar]], diary entry, (quoted in Vaux, 1888: 454-55)  <ref> George Vaux, "Extracts from the Diary of Hannah Callender," ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'', 12 (1888), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/STWXKSK3 view on Zotero]. </ref>
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:“In the evening I accompanied my Uncle over to Bellmont to pay my respects to [[Richard Peters|Judge Peters]]&mdash;the House is finely situated and looks down on the River Schuylkill command[ing] a view of the grounds of Lansdown, Eaglesfield and the distance closed by the City & Jersies. He show’d me his Gardens and [[Orchard]]s in the latter of which was a variety of Grasses, but I saw none of that sort which in England is commonly called ''Heaver''. In the Garden he show’d me a Chesnut Tree which General Washington planted, the day he came out to take leave of his old friend. . . He has promised me some fruit from it, & a young tree of the same. . .
: "...went to [[William Peters]]'s house having some acquaintance with his wife. She was at home and with her daughter Polly received us kindly in one wing of the house. After a while passed through a covered passage to the large hall, well furnished, the top adorned with instruments of music, coats of arms, crests and other ornaments in stucco, its sides by paintings and [[statue]]s in bronze. From the front of this hall you have a [[prospect]] bounded by the Jerseys like a blue ridge. A broad [[walk]] of English Cherry trees leads down to the river. The doors of the house opening opposite admit a [[prospect]] of the length of the garden over a broad gravel [[walk]] to a large handsome [[summer house]] on a [[green]]. From the windows a [[view/vista|vista]] is terminated by an [[obelisk]]. On the right you enter a [[labyrinth]] of [[hedge]] of low cedar and spruce. In the middle stands a [[statue]] of Apollo. In the garden are [[statue]]s of Diana, Fame and Mercury with [[vase/urn|urns]]. We left the garden for a [[wood]] cut into [[vista]]s. In the midst is a Chinese [[temple]] for a [[summerhouse|summer house]]. One [[avenue]] gives a fine [[prospect]] of the City. With a spy glass you discern the houses and hospital distinctly. Another [[avenue]] looks to the [[obelisk]]."
 
  
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:“I was also shown a [[grove]] of Pines in which the General used frequently to walk in and converse with the Judge. . .
  
* c. 1781, [[François Jean, Marquis de Chastellux|Chastellux, François Jean, Marquis de]] (1787: 1: 304) <ref> François Jean, Marquis de Chastellux, ''Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782'', 2 vols. (London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITD6E8FB view on Zotero]. </ref>
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:“Bellmont house is old, but is well built of stone and like all the Country houses, has a [[Piazza]] in front. I don't see why those in England should not have the same, which would secure a fine airy walk in all weathers, besides being ornamental to the building.
: "Nothing can equal the beauties of the coup d'oeil which the banks of the Schuylkill present, in descending towards the south to return to Philadelphia.  
 
: "I found a pretty numerous company assembled at dinner at the Chevalier de la Luzerne's, which was augmented by the arrival of the Comte de Custine and the M. de Laval. In the evening we took them to see the President of the Congress, who was not at home, and then to Mr. Peters, the Secretary to the Board of War, to whom it was my first visit. His house is not large, nor his office of great importance."
 
  
  
* 1787, Anonymous English translator of Marquis De Chastellux, ''Travels in North America, 1780-81-82'' (1787: 1: 301) <ref> François Jean, Marquis de Chastellux, ''Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782'', 2 vols. (London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/ITD6E8FB view on Zotero]. </ref>
+
*<div id="Logan"></div>[[Deborah Norris Logan|Logan, Deborah Norris]], November 15, 1819, diary entry (quoted in Kimball 1927: 336)<ref>Kimball, "Belmont, Fairmount Park," [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/H32TJPUE view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Logan_cite|back up to History]]
: "The beautiful banks of the Schuylkill are every where covered with elegant country houses; among others, those of [[Springettsbury|Mr. Penn]], the late proprietor, [[Alexander Hamilton|Mr. Hamilton]], and Mr. [[William Peters|Peters]], late Secretary to the Board of War, are on the most delightful situations. The tasty little box of the last gentleman is on the most enchanting spot that nature can embellish, and besides the variegated beauties of the rural banks of the Schuylkill, commands the Delaware, and the shipping mounting and descending it, where it is joined at right angles by the former. From hence is the most romantic ride up the river to the Falls, in which the opposite bank is likewise seen beautifully interspersed with the country houses of the opulent citizens of the capital. On your arrival at the Falls, every little knoll or [[eminence]] is occupied by one of these charming retreats."
 
  
==Images==
+
:“[The] garden exhibiting a most perfect sample of the old taste of [[Parterre]]s, made of yew clipped into forms, and beyond this a long [[avenue]] of hemlocks planted close and arched above. Really very fine. And likewise some trees of the same kind to the south of what was formerly a [[wilderness]], very large and covered to their tops with the finest ivy I have ever seen.”
<span id="roundabout_img"></span>
 
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px" perrow="7">
 
  
  
 +
*<div id="Breck"></div>Breck, Samuel, September 29, 1828, ''Address Delivered before the Blockley and Merion Agricultural Society'' (1828: 78&ndash;79)<ref>Samuel Breck, ''Address Delivered before the Blockley and Merion Agricultural Society, on Saturday, September 29th, 1828, on the Death on [sic] Their Late President, The Hon. Richard Peters'' (Philadelphia: Lydia R. Bailey, 1828), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/INU66QCU view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Breck_cite|back up to History]]
  
</gallery>
+
:“The President who placed him on the bench, knew him [[Richard Peters]] well, and took great delight in his society. When a morning of leisure permitted that great man to drive to Belmont, the birth-place and country residence of [[Richard Peters|Judge Peters]], it was his constant habit so to do. There, sequestered from the world, &mdash;the torments and cares of business, Washington would enjoy a vivacious, recreative, and wholly unceremonious intercourse with the Judge; walking for hours, side by side, in the beautiful gardens of Belmont, beneath the dark shade of lofty hemlocks, placed there by his ancestors, nearly a century ago. In those romantic grounds, there stands a chestnut tree, reared from a Spanish nut, planted by the hand of Washington. Large, healthy, and fruitful, it is cherished at Belmont, as a precious evidence of the intimacy that subsisted between those distinguished men. The stranger who visits these umbrageous [[walk]]s, trimmed and decorated in the style of the seventeenth century, pauses amid 'clipt [[hedge]]s of pyramids, [[obelisk]]s, and balls,' formed by the evergreen and compact spruce, to contemplate this thriving tree, and carry back his memory to the glorious virtuous career of him who placed it there.”
  
  
==References==
+
*<div id="Downing"></div>[[Andrew Jackson Downing|Downing, Andrew Jackson]], 1844, (1844: 31&ndash;32, 33)<ref>Andrew Jackson Downing, ''A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America'', 2nd ed. (New York and London: Wiley and Putnam, 1844), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/X7DED2X9 view on Zotero].</ref> [[#Downing_cite|back up to History]]
 
  
 +
:“The [[seat]] of the late [[Richard Peters|Judge Peters]], about five miles from Philadelphia, was, 30 years ago, a noted specimen of the [[ancient style|ancient]] school of [[landscape gardening]]. Its proprietor had a most extended reputation as a scientific agriculturist, and his place was also no less remarkable for the design and culture of its [[pleasure ground|pleasure-grounds]], than for the excellence of its farm. Long and stately [[avenue]]s, with [[vista]]s terminated by [[obelisk]]s, a garden adorned with marble [[vase]]s, busts and [[statue]]s, and [[pleasure ground]]s filled with the rarest trees and shrubs, were conspicuous features here. Some of the latter are now so remarkable as to attract strongly the attention of the visitor. Among them, is the chestnut planted by Washington which produces the largest and finest fruit; very large hollies; and a curious old box tree much higher than the mansion near which it stands. But the most striking feature now, is the still remaining grand old [[avenue]] of hemlocks, (''Abies canadensis''.) Many of these trees, which were planted 100 years ago, are now venerable specimens, ninety feet high, whose huge trunks and wide spread branches, are in many cases densely wreathed and draped with masses of English Ivy, forming the most [[picturesque]], sylvan objects we ever beheld. . . .” 
  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmont_Mansion_(Philadelphia)
+
:“[[Richard Peters|Judge Peters']] [[seat]], [[Lemon Hill]], and [[Clermont]] were of the [[ancient style]], in the earliest period of the history of [[landscape gardening|Landscape Gardening]] among us.
  
http://www.belmontmansion.org/history_belmont_mansion.html
 
  
http://www.historic-details.com/places/pa/phila/fairmount-park-houses/belmont-mansion-fairmount-park/
+
*<div id="Callender"></div> [[Hannah Callender Sansom|Sansom,Hannah Callender]], June 20, 1785, diary entry (2010: 296)<ref name="Callender 2010">Callender 2010, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/33F7ZBKJ view on Zotero].</ref>
 +
:“. . . crossed Brittains bridge, to John Penns elegant Villa, passed a Couple of delightfull hours, mounted our chaise and rode a long the [[Schuylkill River|Schuilkill]] to Peters place the highest and finist situation I know, its gardens and walks are in the King William taste, but are very pleasant, We had a very polite reception from [[Richard Peters|Rich: Peters]], his Wife, and mother, took to our chaise and by his direction, thro a pleasent rode to Riters ferry, crossed and continued our route along [[Schuylkill River|Schuilkill]], to the falls tavern. . .”
  
Fiske Kimball, “Belmont. Fairmont Park,” The Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin, vol. 22 (March 1927), 333-45: stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3794510
+
<hr>
  
Philadelphia Architects and Buildings: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/12321
+
==Images==
 +
<span id="roundabout_img"></span>
 +
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px" perrow="4">
  
Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendants: 1810-1889, edited by Nellie Peters Black:
+
Image:0301.jpg|William Russell Birch, “[[View]] from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country [[Seat]]s of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.
http://books.google.com/books?id=hYRJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=judge+peters+belmont&source=bl&ots=6y0kYQw_B5&sig=341rqFGDmQyBTp4qrlqJORyi74E&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4IACU6XJNcK2yAGqooCYAQ&ved=0CHEQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=judge%20peters%20belmont&f=false
 
  
Howard Malcolm Jenkins and George Overcash Seilhamer, eds., Memorial History of the City of Philadelphia from Its First Settlement to the Year 1895, 2 vols. (New York: New York History Company, 1898), vol. 2, 92; https://archive.org/details/memorialhistory00unkngoog
+
</gallery>
  
 +
<hr>
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
  
[[Category: Sites]]
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<hr>
 +
 
 +
[[Category: Places]]

Latest revision as of 13:56, August 11, 2021

Overview

Belmont, a country estate on the Schuylkill River outside of Philadelphia, was the home of the English lawyer and jurist William Peters (1702–1789) and of his son, the judge and agriculturalist Richard Peters (1744–1828). The house, which survives, is one of the earliest instances of English Palladian style adapted to the architecture and landscaping of an American villa.


History

Fig. 1, William Russell Birch, “View from Belmont Pennsyl.a the Seat of Judge Peters,” in The Country Seats of the United States (1808), pl. 16.

William Peters named his estate Belmont in honor of its lofty situation on a height commanding panoramic views of the Schuylkill River and surrounding countryside [Fig. 1]. Peters’s initial purchase in 1742 consisted of 113 acres of farmland on the west bank of the river, and extended from the water’s edge up a steep ascent to a point one mile north that Peters would later punctuate with a monumental obelisk. The property also included a small island of about two acres, still known as Peters Island.[1] Belmont’s location would remain one of the most admired on the Schuylkill for many decades. In the 1780s, when “the beautiful banks of the Schuylkill [were] everywhere covered with elegant country houses,” an English gentleman visiting Philadelphia would still single out Belmont as “the most enchanting spot that nature can embellish.”[2]

Immediately after acquiring the Belmont property, Peters refurbished and expanded an existing small stone cottage as a temporary residence and began developing what he called a “Country Retirement”: a luxury villa surrounded by an ornamental landscape that would provide a pleasurable respite from the business of town life.[3] A local precedent for this kind of suburban retreat was Thomas Penn’s Springettsbury estate on the opposite side of the Schuylkill. In the 1730s Penn had laid out the property as a pleasure garden, with features such as parterres, tree-lined alleys, and avenues described in detail by Hannah Callender Sansom, who visited Belmont in June of 1762. He combined these features with a densely planted wood and a labyrinth of clipped cedar and spruce, and ornamental structures such as the obelisk, Chinese temple, and statues.[4] Peters sited his house near the center of the property, with a direct view of the obelisk at one end, and Peters Island at the other.[5] Belmont may have influenced Penn’s efforts to update the landscaping of Springettsbury in the early 1740s by softening the rigid formality of his original plantings with more naturalistic and picturesque elements. In 1743, he wrote from England informing Peters that he hoped to visit Belmont soon and to “[gain] something by your experience.”[6]

In addition to developing one of the grandest ornamental landscapes in the American colonies, Peters built a house at Belmont that was extremely fashionable for its time and place. It was among the first in America to imitate the distinctive suburban villa style that flourished in England early in the 18th century and that was modeled, in turn, on the refined classicism of the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580).[7] In addition to drawing on examples he had seen in England, Peters appears to have derived ideas from English pattern books, such as James Gibbs's Book of Architecture (1728), William Kent’s Designs of Inigo Jones (1727), and Batty Langley's The City and Country Builder’s and Workman’s Treasury of Designs (1740).[8] As originally executed, Peters’s house at Belmont featured a symmetrical design, with a nearly square central hall flanked by small side chambers in each corner. The woodwork of the fireplace and pedimented doorways and the plasterwork ornamenting the ceiling were all executed in accordance with current English fashion.[9] Musical motifs in the plasterwork of the central hall presumably reflect the use of that space for instrumental performances. Peters is known to have imported music books from England, and in 1742 he requested that Thomas Penn find him a musician who could play the violin and harpsichord.[10] As further evidence of his taste for the arts, Peters displayed a collection of paintings and bronze sculptures in the central hall.[11]

Peters's home at Belmont was smaller than other country houses in the area. Soon after its completion in 1745, Peters began its expansion, adding outbuildings on the north and south sides which he connected to the central structure by means of covered piazzas.[12] Even after these additions, an English visitor characterized Belmont as “a tasty little box” (view text), and the Marquis de Chastellux noted succinctly that is was “not large” (view text). Hannah Callender Sansom's account suggests that Peters’s additions served to dramatize the opening up of the landscape from the interior space of the house. Visitors entered through one of the added side buildings and passed through the connecting piazza to the lavishly decorated hall. There, they were greeted by the sight of a panoramic landscape, or, as Sansom put it, by a “prospect bounded by the Jerseys like a blue ridge” (view text).[13] Peters continued to add acreage to Belmont through subsequent land purchases made in 1743 (113 acres), 1749 (22 acres), and 1764 (11 acres).[14] His correspondence over that time indicates a shift in his conception of the estate from a “retirement” (or, suburban villa and pleasure garden) to a “plantation” (or working farm), although he continued to employ a full-time gardener, George Severitt, as late as 1767.[15]

Following Peters's return to England in 1768, Belmont became the property of his eldest son, Richard, a federal judge and prominent abolitionist, who welcomed many notable visitors and carried out further additions to the property. Richard Peters reduced the size of the pleasure gardens, confining them to the area immediately surrounding the house. He converted the rest of the property to farmland, as it had been at the time of his father’s initial purchase, but now with an emphasis on experimental agriculture. He raised the grade around the house by three feet, covering the original stone foundation, and constructed a piazza across the front, bringing the house and landscape into closer unity. He also built an icehouse, a hothouse, and a springhouse on the property.[16]

From early in the 19th century, Belmont’s grounds were imbued with a sense of history. Deborah Norris Logan described the garden in 1819 as “exhibiting a most perfect sample of the old taste” (view text). Nine years later, the Philadelphia merchant Samuel Breck (1771–1862) called attention to the “lofty hemlocks, placed there by [Richard Peter’s] ancestors, nearly a century ago,” a “chestnut tree . . . planted by the hand of Washington,” and hedges “trimmed and decorated in the style of the seventeenth century” (view text). Most significantly, Andrew Jackson Downing described Belmont in his pioneering Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1841) as “a noted specimen of the ancient school of landscape gardening” (view text). Although Belmont remained in the possession of the Peters family for another 25 years following Richard Peters's death in 1828, the Columbia Railroad laid tracks for a new line (together with machinery, workshops, and a depot) within 200 feet of the house in 1832.[17] Belmont reportedly served as a stop on the Underground Railroad from about 1847[18] until 1850, when the tracks were realigned along an alternative route in order to bypass the steep grade. In 1869 the city of Philadelphia purchased the property for inclusion in Fairmount Park and the house was converted into a restaurant. It now operates as an Underground Railroad museum open to the public.

Robyn Asleson


Texts

“. . . went to Will: Peters's house, having some small aquaintance with his wife who was at home with her Daughter Polly. they received us kindly in one wing of the House, after a while we passed thro' a covered Passage to the large hall, well furnished, the top adorned with instruments of musick, coat of arms, crest, and other ornaments in Stucco, its sides by paintings and Statues in Bronze. from the Front of this hall you have a prospect bounded by the Jerseys, like a blueridge, and the Horison, a broad walk of english Cherre trys leads down to the river, the doors of the hous opening opposite admitt a prospect [of] the length of the garden thro' a broad gravel walk, to a large hansome summer house in a grean, from these Windows down a Wisto terminated by an Obelisk, on the right you enter a Labarynth of hedge and low ceder with spruce, in the middle stands a Statue of Apollo, note: in the garden are the Statues of Dianna, Fame & Mercury, with urns. we left the garden for a wood cut into Visto’s, in the midst a chinese temple, for a summer house, one avenue gives a fine prospect of the City, with a Spy glass you discern the houses distinct, Hospital, & another looks to the Oblisk.”


“Nothing can equal the beauties of the coup d'oeil which the banks of the Schuylkill present, in descending towards the south to return to Philadelphia.
“I found a pretty numerous company assembled at dinner at the Chevalier de la Luzerne’s, which was augmented by the arrival of the Comte de Custine and the M. de Laval. In the evening we took them to see the President of the Congress, who was not at home, and then to Mr. Peters, the Secretary to the Board of War, to whom it was my first visit. His house is not large, nor his office of great importance.”


“The beautiful banks of the Schuylkill are every where covered with elegant country houses; among others, those of Mr. Penn, the late proprietor, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Peters, late Secretary to the Board of War, are on the most delightful situations. The tasty little box of the last gentleman is on the most enchanting spot that nature can embellish, and besides the variegated beauties of the rural banks of the Schuylkill, commands the Delaware, and the shipping mounting and descending it, where it is joined at right angles by the former. From hence is the most romantic ride up the river to the Falls, in which the opposite bank is likewise seen beautifully interspersed with the country houses of the opulent citizens of the capital. On your arrival at the Falls, every little knoll or eminence is occupied by one of these charming retreats.”


  • Watson, Joshua Rowley, June 17, 1816, diary entry (quoted in Foster 1997: 292)[21]
“In the evening I accompanied my Uncle over to Bellmont to pay my respects to Judge Peters—the House is finely situated and looks down on the River Schuylkill command[ing] a view of the grounds of Lansdown, Eaglesfield and the distance closed by the City & Jersies. He show’d me his Gardens and Orchards in the latter of which was a variety of Grasses, but I saw none of that sort which in England is commonly called Heaver. In the Garden he show’d me a Chesnut Tree which General Washington planted, the day he came out to take leave of his old friend. . . He has promised me some fruit from it, & a young tree of the same. . .
“I was also shown a grove of Pines in which the General used frequently to walk in and converse with the Judge. . .
“Bellmont house is old, but is well built of stone and like all the Country houses, has a Piazza in front. I don't see why those in England should not have the same, which would secure a fine airy walk in all weathers, besides being ornamental to the building.”


“[The] garden exhibiting a most perfect sample of the old taste of Parterres, made of yew clipped into forms, and beyond this a long avenue of hemlocks planted close and arched above. Really very fine. And likewise some trees of the same kind to the south of what was formerly a wilderness, very large and covered to their tops with the finest ivy I have ever seen.”


  • Breck, Samuel, September 29, 1828, Address Delivered before the Blockley and Merion Agricultural Society (1828: 78–79)[23] back up to History
“The President who placed him on the bench, knew him Richard Peters well, and took great delight in his society. When a morning of leisure permitted that great man to drive to Belmont, the birth-place and country residence of Judge Peters, it was his constant habit so to do. There, sequestered from the world, —the torments and cares of business, Washington would enjoy a vivacious, recreative, and wholly unceremonious intercourse with the Judge; walking for hours, side by side, in the beautiful gardens of Belmont, beneath the dark shade of lofty hemlocks, placed there by his ancestors, nearly a century ago. In those romantic grounds, there stands a chestnut tree, reared from a Spanish nut, planted by the hand of Washington. Large, healthy, and fruitful, it is cherished at Belmont, as a precious evidence of the intimacy that subsisted between those distinguished men. The stranger who visits these umbrageous walks, trimmed and decorated in the style of the seventeenth century, pauses amid 'clipt hedges of pyramids, obelisks, and balls,' formed by the evergreen and compact spruce, to contemplate this thriving tree, and carry back his memory to the glorious virtuous career of him who placed it there.”


“The seat of the late Judge Peters, about five miles from Philadelphia, was, 30 years ago, a noted specimen of the ancient school of landscape gardening. Its proprietor had a most extended reputation as a scientific agriculturist, and his place was also no less remarkable for the design and culture of its pleasure-grounds, than for the excellence of its farm. Long and stately avenues, with vistas terminated by obelisks, a garden adorned with marble vases, busts and statues, and pleasure grounds filled with the rarest trees and shrubs, were conspicuous features here. Some of the latter are now so remarkable as to attract strongly the attention of the visitor. Among them, is the chestnut planted by Washington which produces the largest and finest fruit; very large hollies; and a curious old box tree much higher than the mansion near which it stands. But the most striking feature now, is the still remaining grand old avenue of hemlocks, (Abies canadensis.) Many of these trees, which were planted 100 years ago, are now venerable specimens, ninety feet high, whose huge trunks and wide spread branches, are in many cases densely wreathed and draped with masses of English Ivy, forming the most picturesque, sylvan objects we ever beheld. . . .”
Judge Peters' seat, Lemon Hill, and Clermont were of the ancient style, in the earliest period of the history of Landscape Gardening among us.”


“. . . crossed Brittains bridge, to John Penns elegant Villa, passed a Couple of delightfull hours, mounted our chaise and rode a long the Schuilkill to Peters place the highest and finist situation I know, its gardens and walks are in the King William taste, but are very pleasant, We had a very polite reception from Rich: Peters, his Wife, and mother, took to our chaise and by his direction, thro a pleasent rode to Riters ferry, crossed and continued our route along Schuilkill, to the falls tavern. . .”

Images


Notes

  1. Richard Peters Jr., “Belmont Mansion,” Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia 30 (1925): 78–79, 81, view on Zotero.
  2. Anonymous English translator’s note in François Jean, Marquis de Chastellux, Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782, 2 vols. (London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787), 1:301, view on Zotero.
  3. Mark Reinberger, “Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians 9 (1998): 17, view on Zotero; Fiske Kimball, “Belmont, Fairmount Park,” Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin 22 (1927): 334, view on Zotero.
  4. For the connection between this hybrid, or “transitional” landscape style and English Palladian architecture, see Reinberger 1998, 27, view on Zotero; Kimball 1927, 341, view on Zotero.
  5. Reinberger 1998, 25, and fig. 36, view on Zotero.
  6. Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 17, view on Zotero.
  7. Martin Jay Rosenblum, R.A. & Associates, Belmont Mansion, Fairmount Park; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: The Fairmount Park Council for Historic Sites for the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, 1992), 7–10, view on Zotero.
  8. Reinberger 1998, 22–23, view on Zotero; Kimball 1927: 338–339, 341, view on Zotero; Amy Cole Ives, “Belmont Mansion, A Conditions Survey of the Ornamental Plaster Ceilings of Rooms 101 and 205,” (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1996), 13–14, view on Zotero.
  9. Ives 1996, 15–16, view on Zotero.
  10. Reinberger 1998, 25, view on Zotero.
  11. Hannah Callender Sansom, The Diary of Hannah Callender Sansom: Sense and Sensibility in the Age of the American Revolution, ed. Susan E. Klepp and Karin Wulf (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010), 182–183 view on Zotero.
  12. Reinberger 1998, 21, 31, view on Zotero; see also Kimball 1927, 333, 335, view on Zotero.
  13. George Vaux, “Extracts from the Diary of Hannah Callender,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 12, no. 4 (January 1889): 455, view on Zotero. For this interpretation of the visitor’s experience at Belmont, see Reinberger 1998, 32, view on Zotero.
  14. For more information, see the website “Mapping West Philadelphia: Landowners in October 1777”.
  15. Reinberger 1998, 31, 37, view on Zotero.
  16. Reinberger 1998, 22, 33, view on Zotero; Rosenblum & Associates, 1992, 5, view on Zotero.
  17. Rosenblum & Associates 1992, 5, view on Zotero; Nellie Peters Black, Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810–1889 (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 91–92, view on Zotero; Peters 1925, 81, view on Zotero; J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884, 3 vols. (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1884), 3: 1865, view on Zotero.
  18. Audrey R. J. Thornton, Crown Jewel of Fairmount Park Belmont: Historic Home of the Peters Family in Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park (Glenside, PA: American Women’s Heritage Society, 2001), view on Zotero.
  19. 19.0 19.1 Callender 2010, view on Zotero.
  20. 20.0 20.1 Chastellux 1787, view on Zotero.
  21. Kathleen A. Foster, Captain Watson’s Travels in America: The Sketchbooks and Diary of Joshua Rowley Watson, 1772–1818 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997,) 292, view on Zotero.
  22. Kimball, "Belmont, Fairmount Park," view on Zotero.
  23. Samuel Breck, Address Delivered before the Blockley and Merion Agricultural Society, on Saturday, September 29th, 1828, on the Death on [sic] Their Late President, The Hon. Richard Peters (Philadelphia: Lydia R. Bailey, 1828), view on Zotero.
  24. Andrew Jackson Downing, A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America, 2nd ed. (New York and London: Wiley and Putnam, 1844), view on Zotero.

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