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History of Early American Landscape Design

Difference between revisions of "Pond"

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===Usage===
 
===Usage===
 +
 +
Anonymous, 28 July 1733, describing a property
 +
for sale in Charleston, S.C. (South Carolina
 +
Gazette)
 +
 +
“A Plantation about two Miles above Goose-
 +
Creek Bridge . . . [having] a Garden of each Side of
 +
the House, with Posts, Rails and Pails of the best
 +
Stuff, all plained & painted, & brick’d underneath,
 +
a Fish-pond well stored with Perch, Roach, Pike,
 +
Eels and Cat-fish . . . a Spring within 3 Stones
 +
throw of the House, intended for a Cold Bath, and
 +
House over it, 3 large Dam-ponds, whose Banks
 +
with some small Repairs, may drown upwards of
 +
100 Acres of Land, which being very plentifully
 +
stored with Game all the Winter Season, affords
 +
great Diversion.”
 +
 +
Pinckney, Eliza Lucas, c. May 1743, describing
 +
Crowfield, plantation of William Middleton,
 +
vicinity of Charleston, S.C. (1972: 61)
 +
 +
“come to the bottom of this charming spott
 +
where is a large fish pond with a mount rising out
 +
of the middle—the top of which is level with the
 +
dwelling house and upon it is a roman temple. On
 +
each side of this are other large fish ponds properly
 +
disposed which form a fine prospect of water
 +
from the house.”
 +
 +
Kalm, Pehr, 12 November 1748, describing the
 +
springs in Pennsylvania (1937: 1:161)
 +
 +
“Not only people of rank but even others that
 +
had some possessions, frequently had fish ponds
 +
in the country near their homes.”
 +
 +
Murray, John, 18 June 1753, describing Murraywhaite,
 +
home of John Murray, Charleston, S.C.
 +
(Scottish Record Office, Murraywhaithe Collection,
 +
GO219/284/5)
 +
 +
“By all means mention the fine Improvements
 +
of your garden & the fine avenues you’ve raised
 +
near the spot where you’r to build your new
 +
house. I hope you’ll raise it in the English
 +
Taste. . . . You’ll certainly dig a Fish pond &
 +
another for geese & Ducks & one Swan. . . .”
 +
 +
Drowne, Samuel, 23 June 1767, describing Mal-
 +
bone Hall, country seat of Godfrey Malbone,
 +
Newport, R.I. (Brown University, John Hay
 +
Library, Drowne Family Papers, typescript)
 +
 +
“I went up to Colonel Molbones House or the
 +
ruins of His House there was a fine garden and
 +
Summer House. There His House was Built of
 +
Stone and marvel had Six Chimneys and in His
 +
garden was a fish pond and a Duck pond the
 +
water was Drawn out of the fish pond when His
 +
House was Burnt.”
 +
 +
Anonymous, 12 December 1768, describing in the
 +
South Carolina and American General Gazette a
 +
property in the vicinity of Charleston, S.C. (Colonial
 +
Williamsburg Foundation; hereafter CWF)
 +
 +
“For Sale, by private Contract, A LOT of
 +
LAND on White-Point . . . on which there is a . . . brick summer-house, with two fish ponds
 +
neatly bricked in, and several other convenience.”
 +
Quincy, Josiah, 3 May 1773, describing the country
 +
seat of John Dickinsen, near Philadelphia, Pa.
 +
(CWF)
 +
 +
“This worthy and arch-politician . . . here enjoys
 +
otium cum dignitate as much as any man. Take into
 +
consideration the antique look of his house, his gardens,
 +
green-house, bathing-house, grotto, study,
 +
fish-pond, fields, meadows, vista, through which is
 +
distant prospect of Delaware River.”
 +
 +
Anonymous, 23 February 1786, describing in the
 +
State Gazette a pleasure garden in Charleston, S.C.
 +
(quoted in Briggs 1951: 103)
 +
 +
“An enclosure of about 20 acres in this plat,
 +
adjoining the marsh, and in full view of Wallace’s
 +
ferry, is set apart for a PLEASURE GARDEN;
 +
about seven or eight acres of this, including three
 +
canals or fish-ponds are already laid out and
 +
improved in a taste no where exceeded in this
 +
State. The canals abound with fish.”
 +
 +
Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 14 July 1787, describing
 +
Bartram Botanic Garden and Nursery, vicinity of
 +
Philadelphia, Pa. (1987: 1:273)
 +
 +
“It [the garden] is finely situated, as it partakes
 +
of every kind of soil, has a fine stream of water,
 +
and an artificial pond, where he has a good collection
 +
of aquatic plants.” [Fig. 12]
 +
 +
Bentley, William, 12 June 1791, describing Pleasant
 +
Hill, seat of Joseph Barrell, Charlestown, Mass.
 +
(1962: 1:264)
 +
 +
“Was politely received at dinner by Mr Barrell,
 +
& family, who shewed me his large & elegant
 +
arrangements for amusement, & philosophic
 +
experiments. . . . His Garden is beyond any example
 +
I have seen. A young grove is growing in the
 +
back ground, in the middle of which is a pond,
 +
decorated with four ships at anchor, & a marble
 +
figure in the centre.” [Fig. 13]
 +
 +
Clitherall, Eliza Caroline Burgwin, active
 +
1801, describing the Hermitage, seat of John Burg-
 +
win, Wilmington, N.C. (quoted in Flowers 1983:
 +
125)
 +
 +
“The Gardens were large, and laid out in the
 +
English style—a Creek wound thro’ the largest,
 +
upon its banks grew native shrubbery; in this Garden
 +
were several Alcoves, Summer Houses, a hothouse—
 +
an Octagon summer house high and a
 +
Gardener’s tool house beneath—a fishpond, communicating
 +
with the Creek, both producing abundance
 +
of fish.”
 +
 +
Jefferson, Thomas, c. 1804, describing improvements
 +
for Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson,
 +
Charlottesville, Va. (quoted in Martin 1991: 157)
 +
“a fish pond to be visible from the house.”
 +
 +
Peale, Charles Willson, 15, 27, 29 March 1814,
 +
 +
in a letter to his sons, Benjamin Franklin Peale
 +
and Titian Ramsey Peale, describing Belfield, estate of Charles Willson Peale, Germantown, Pa.
 +
(Miller, Hart, and Ward, eds., 1991: 3:239)
 +
 +
“when my leasure and I can spare a man to hall
 +
dirt I will raise the water in the fish Pond which will
 +
encrease its surfaces considerably raising the water
 +
to the stone wall at the head of the Pond, deeper,
 +
and more water, will be better for fish & will raise
 +
the get [jet] at the fountain considerably.”
 +
 +
Columbian Institute, 1823, in a report describing
 +
the Columbian Institute, Washington, D.C.
 +
(quoted in O’Malley 1989: 127)
 +
 +
“An elliptical pond had been formed 144 feet
 +
for the transverse and 100 feet for the conjugate
 +
diameter, with an island in the middle 114 feet by
 +
85 feet.”
 +
 +
Peale, Charles Willson, c. 1825, describing
 +
Belfield, estate of Charles Willson Peale, German
 +
 +
 +
town, Pa. (Miller, Hart, and Ward, eds., 2000:
 +
5:382)
 +
 +
“Having a good spring-house the water from it
 +
supplied a small fish-pond, in which he put many
 +
cat-fish brought from the Schulkill and although
 +
they lived and perhaps might be breed there yet
 +
being petts never was served at his table.”
 +
 +
Wailes, Benjamin L. C., 29 December 1829,
 +
 +
describing Lemon Hill, estate of Henry Pratt,
 +
Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Moore 1954: 359)
 +
 +
“But the most enchanting prospect is towards
 +
the grand pleasure grove & green house of a Mr.
 +
Prat[t], a gentleman of fortune, and to this we
 +
next proceeded by a circutous [sic] rout, passing
 +
in view of the fish ponds, bowers, rustic retreats,
 +
summer houses, fountains, grotto, &c.,
 +
&c. . . . Next is a round fish pond with a small
 +
fountain playing in the pond. An Oval & several
 +
oblong fish ponds of larger size follow, & between
 +
the two last is an artificial cascade. Several summer
 +
houses in rustic style are made by nailing bark
 +
on the outside & thaching the roof. There is also a
 +
 +
rustic seat built in the branches of a tree, & to
 +
which a flight of steps ascend. In one of the summer
 +
houses is a Spring with seats around it. The
 +
houses are all embelished [sic] with marble busts
 +
of Venus, Appollo, Diana and a Bacanti. One sits
 +
on an Island on the fish pond. All the ponds filled
 +
with handsome coloured fish.”
 +
 +
Committee of the Pennsylvania Horticultural
 +
Society, 1830, describing Lemon Hill,
 +
estate of Henry Pratt, Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in
 +
Boyd 1929: 432)
 +
 +
“There are some pretty bowers, summer
 +
houses, grottos and fish ponds in this garden—the
 +
latter well stored with gold and silver fish.”
 +
 +
Dearborn, H.A.S., 30 September 1831, describing
 +
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.
 +
(quoted in Ward 1831: 48)
 +
 +
“The nurseries may be established, the departments
 +
for culinary vegetables, fruit, and ornamental
 +
trees, shrubs and flowers, laid out and planted, a green house built, hot-beds formed, the small
 +
ponds and morasses converted into picturesque
 +
sheets of water, and their margins diversified by
 +
clumps and belts of our most splendid native
 +
flowering trees, and shrubs, requiring a soil thus
 +
constituted for their successful cultivation, while
 +
their surface may be spangled with the brilliant
 +
blossoms of Nymphae, and the other beautiful
 +
tribes of aquatic plants.”
 +
 +
Dearborn, H.A.S., 1832, describing Mount
 +
Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in
 +
Harris 1832: 80)
 +
 +
“The upper Garden Pond has been excavated, to
 +
a sufficient depth to afford a constant sheet of water,
 +
with a fall at the outlet of three feet, and being
 +
embanked, avenues with a border of six feet, for
 +
shrubs and flowers, have been made all round it. . . .
 +
 +
“Arrangements have been made for excavating,
 +
to a greater depth, Forest and Consecration-
 +
Dell Ponds, and surrounding them by
 +
embellished pathways, like those of Garden-Pond,
 +
and for cleaning the eastern portion of Garden
 +
and of Meadow Ponds, of bushes and weeds; all
 +
which will be done during the winter, that season
 +
being the most favorable for such work.” [Fig. 14]
 +
 +
Forman, Martha Ogle, 17 December 1833,
 +
 +
describing Rose Hill, home of Martha Ogle For-
 +
man, Baltimore County, Md. (1976: 329)
 +
 +
“The fish pond dam broke. A tremendous
 +
storm wind and rain.”
 +
 +
Anonymous, 1839, describing Mount Auburn
 +
Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (Picturesque Pocket
 +
Companion 1839: Appendix, 41)
 +
 +
“The streams, and parcels of bog and meadowland
 +
may be easily converted into ponds, and variously
 +
formed sheets of water, which will furnish
 +
appropriate positions for aquatic plants, while
 +
their borders may be planted with Rhododendrons,
 +
Azaleas, several species of the superb Magnolia,
 +
and other plants, which require a constantly
 +
humid soil, and decayed vegetable matter, for
 +
their nourishment.”
 +
 +
Hovey, C. M., November 1839, “Notices of Gardens
 +
and Horticulture, in Salem, Mass,” describing
 +
Elias Hasket Derby House, Salem, Mass.
 +
(Magazine of Horticulture 5: 411)
 +
 +
“In the centre of the garden is a small oval pond,
 +
containing gold fish: this pond is hedged round
 +
with the buckthorn, which has now been planted
 +
over thirty years! It is not over eight feet high, and is
 +
thickly set with branches and foliage from the top to
 +
bottom, and perfectly impenetrable.”
 +
 +
Adams, Rev. Nehemiah, 1842, describing Boston
 +
Common, Boston, Mass. ([Adams] 1842: 19–20)
 +
 +
“The Common is adorned by a pond of fresh
 +
water. . . .
 +
 +
“This pond of water has had, and will continue
 +
to have, a powerful influence on the rising generations
 +
of this city. With the little child . . . it is his
 +
Atlantic, as a place of danger and adventure. . . . There are as many clearances and arrivals of boats,
 +
sloops and schooners, from its rock-bound shores,
 +
during the year, as from most of our sea ports. . .
 +
.When winter comes, the pond is the scene of as
 +
great interest and excitement as in the summer. Its
 +
frozen surface is cut by innumerable skates.”
 +
 +
W., February 1842, describing Lowell Cemetery,
 +
Lowell, Mass. (Magazine of Horticulture 8: 49)
 +
 +
“The northern and southern boundaries
 +
embrace a range of high grounds, covered for the
 +
most part with a young and verdant growth of
 +
trees: these high grounds gradually and abruptly
 +
slope towards the centre or valley, through which
 +
runs a brook, supplying several large ponds for
 +
the season, also sufficient for supplying a fountain
 +
of about one hundred feet head.”
 +
 +
Longfellow, Alexander W., January 1844,
 +
 +
describing the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House,
 +
Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Evans 1993: 38)
 +
 +
“We were very busy planning the grounds & I
 +
laid out a linden avenue for the Professor’s private
 +
walk. I was often reminded of your fancy for such
 +
things. . . . The house is to be repaired but not
 +
essentially altered, the old out buildings to be
 +
removed, trees planted a pond, & rustic bridge,
 +
created the pond is an apology for the bridge.”
 +
 +
B., P., January 1844, “Progress of Horticulture in
 +
Rochester, N.Y.,” describing the residence of John
 +
Robert Murray, Mount Morris, N.Y. (Magazine of
 +
Horticulture 10: 18)
 +
 +
“In the rear of the dwelling is a deep ravine, in
 +
which there are two fish ponds, with a good supply
 +
of trout; from these water is conveyed to the
 +
house by means of a forcing pump.”
 +
 +
Cleaveland, Nehemiah, 1847, describing Greenwood
 +
Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. (p. vi)
 +
 +
“To preserve, at all times, the supply and the
 +
transparency of the smaller ponds—to facilitate
 +
the sprinkling of the roads, and the irrigation of
 +
the grounds during periods of drought and dust—
 +
and especially to enrich the scenery, already so
 +
lovely, with a perfecting charm, the unfailing
 +
water of Sylvan Lake has been lifted into an ele
 +
 +
 +
vated reservoir. Distributing pipes have been laid,
 +
and the visiter of the coming season will be
 +
refreshed by the sparkling beauty and gentle murmur
 +
of fountain and stream.”
 +
 +
Notman, John, 1848, describing his designs for
 +
the Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va. (quoted
 +
in Greiff 1979: 145)
 +
 +
“The only piece of water I have considered
 +
desirable, is at the debouch of the water into the
 +
culvert at the canal; this would be easily dammed
 +
by a retaining wall (some twenty or thirty feet
 +
from the canal as the line may be) built of sufficient
 +
height to dam the water to the desired
 +
breadth of pond—this is to be recommended also
 +
as a regulator to the emission of the waters of the
 +
main run, rendering it placid in its bed, which
 +
once cut to the desired size and shape, will be
 +
without the trouble and expense of alteration.”
 +
 +
Kirkbride, Thomas S., April 1848, describing the
 +
pleasure grounds and farm of the Pennsylvania
 +
Hospital for the Insane, Philadelphia, Pa. (American
 +
Journal of Insanity 4: 348)
 +
 +
“At the extreme end of the deer-park, it is
 +
joined by the drying-yard which completes the
 +
separation of the sexes in that direction. In this
 +
yard, are the wash-house and the pump and pond
 +
from which water is raised into the tanks in the
 +
dome of the centre building. This pond is supplied
 +
from various springs on the premises, and
 +
there is ample space in the yard for drying clothes
 +
in fine weather.”
 +
 +
Hovey, C. M., October 1850, “Notes on Gardens
 +
and Nurseries,” describing a residence in Cambridge,
 +
Mass. (Magazine of Horticulture 16: 462)
 +
 +
“The sailing pond, with the exception of the
 +
walks around the border, and the planting of a few
 +
trees on the island in the centre, have been completed
 +
since last year, and a fine boat-house, to
 +
combine a bathing-house, &c., was now just being
 +
finished.”
 +
Downing, A. J., 1851, describing plans for improving
 +
the public grounds of Washington, D.C.
 +
(quoted in Washburn 1967: 55)
 +
 +
“5th: Fountain Park
 +
 +
“This Park would be chiefly remarkable for its
 +
water features. The Fountain would be chiefly
 +
supplied from a basin in the Capitol. The pond or
 +
lake might either be formed from the overflow of
 +
this fountain, or from a filtering drain from the
 +
canal. The earth that would be excavated to form
 +
this pond is needed to fill up low places now existing
 +
in this portion of the grounds.”
  
 
===Citations===
 
===Citations===

Revision as of 16:23, April 19, 2016

See also: Basin, Bridge, Lake

History

The terms pond, lake, and, to a lesser extent, “pool,” were used to describe still-water features in garden settings in American landscape writing. Distinctions between them were not consistently made in dictionaries, treatises, or usage examples, and several of these sources used them synonymously. William Bartram, for instance, used the terms “lake” and “pond” interchangeably when describing Lake George, Ga., in 1791. Nehemiah Cleaveland, in his 1847 guide to Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y., was also undecided as to whether the bodies of water of “different size and shape” were either small lakes or ponds. A. J. Downing (1849) suggested that the terminology differed from British usage because of the abundance and scale of America’s natural waterways: “many a beautiful, limpid, natural expanse which in England would be thought a charming lake, is here simply a pond.” The first American edition of the Encyclopaedia (1798) stated flatly that “A pool and a pond are the same.” Noah Webster (1828) was clear in his distinction between a pond and a lake, with the latter being larger, and between a pond and a pool, but even Webster noted that the term “pool” was “used by writers with more latitude.” He also defined pool as “a small collection of water in a hollow place, supplied by a spring, and discharging its surplus water by an outlet. It is smaller than a lake, and in New England is never confounded with pond or lake. It signifies with us, a spring with a small bason or reservoir on the surface of the earth.” [1]

Despite this ambiguity, it is clear that ponds were a common element in the American landscape throughout the colonies in the period under discussion. Their construction method was determined more by setting and function than by chronological or regional patterns. Garden ponds were created by damming streams, capturing natural springs, or capitalizing on existing ponds [Fig. 1]. George William Johnson’s A Dictionary of Modern Gardening (1847) detailed the method of “puddling” ponds with clay to improve their retention of water, and J. C. Loudon (1826) illustrated several methods of constructing ponds or cisterns [Fig. 2]. [2] Downing’s lengthy discussion about the “Treatment of Water” went into detail about the excavation of a “piece of artificial water,” the placement of islands, and the planting and arrangement of banks. [3] In one of the few examples where artificial materials are specified in the description of a site, a Charleston property was advertised in 1768 with two fish ponds “neatly bricked in.”

Ponds in gardens were used for a variety of practical uses, ranging from ice harvesting to stocking fish and waterfowl, from irrigating gardens to supplying fountains, and from fire fighting to wetting dusty roads. The terms “horse pond,” “dam pond,” “mill pond,” “fish pond,” and “ice pond” reflect these functions, but their usage does not preclude the perception that these still-water features were integral to the garden design. At Crowfield, on the Ashley River, Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1743) reported that the fish ponds were disposed to “form a fine prospect of water from the house.” Ponds were also valued as a source of water for the garden and for creating specialized habitats [Fig. 3]. Rev. Manasseh Cutler reported in 1787 that the Bartram Botanic Garden and Nursery near Philadelphia contained an “artificial pond [with] . . . a good collection of aquatic plants.” Treatise writers and nurserymen such as James E. Teschemacher (1835), Robert Buist (1841), and Charles Wyllys Elliott (1848) advocated the same practice of creating ponds to take advantage of the many swamp plants unique to America. In addition, ponds were associated with recreation; they were used for swimming, angling, boating, skating, and even a miniature “Atlantic” for children’s toy schooners, as described by Rev. Nehemiah Adams in 1842.

In landscape design theory, the configuration of a pond depended on its context. Downing argued that the shape of a pond must conform to its surroundings with geometric shapes suitable for architectural or flower gardens while irregular lines were recommended in picturesque or modern-style gardens. [4] In keeping with the monumentality and geometric regularity of the city plan, elliptical ponds were proposed for the Columbian Institute in Washington, D.C. Irregular ponds described by H.A.S. Dearborn in 1831 as “small ponds and morasses converted into picturesque sheets of water” were a major element of the naturalistic design at Mount Auburn Cemetery [Fig. 4]. Ponds were recommended particularly for soggy, low areas, although Edward Sayers (1837) and Downing (1851) cautioned strongly against building a pond unless it had a water supply year-round. Treatise writers also suggested ways to enhance existing natural ponds by planting along the banks. Sayers, for example, praised “drooping willows and trees of a pendulous habit for shade” and others admired the effects of lilies and water plants. C. M. Hovey (1839) offered an example of pond plantings gone awry at the Elias Hasket Derby House in Salem, Mass., where the thirty-year old buckthorn hedge had grown to an impenetrable eight-foot barrier around the small fish pond. Treatises also suggested the addition of bridges in order for the pond or lake to appear as a river, and even adding elaborate ornaments such as a mount (as at William Middleton’s Crowfield), a fountain (as at Charles Willson Peale’s Belfield), or a grotto (as at Henry Pratt’s Lemon Hill). Jane Loudon (1845) argued that a pond’s appeal, like a lawn’s, lay in its expanse of unbroken space, and she suggested that if any islands were to be added that they should be kept near the shore.

Bodies of standing water, whether called ponds, lakes, or pools, provided many of the same visual effects, and writers praised the associations of coolness and the animating quality that water brought to a garden. [5] As Downing noted, animation might come from the sparkle of the reflecting sun, the movement of wind on the water, or from the sound of a fountain or a stream feeding the pond. Water was prized, as Abercrombie (1817) noted, as a natural mirror reflecting the surrounding vegetation or, as at the carefully placed pond at Monticello and in a painting of an unknown site [Fig. 5], the house itself. Bodies of water not only sustained fish for sport and food, but, as Humphry Repton (1803) advised, they also attracted waterfowl and other animals and thus enhanced visual and aural interest of the garden. Downing (1847) praised the effect of contrasting water features, such as the rush of the waterfall at Blithewood, on the Hudson, juxtaposed with the still waters of the lake, “so full of the spirit of repose.”

-- Elizabeth Kryder-Reid

Texts

Usage

Anonymous, 28 July 1733, describing a property for sale in Charleston, S.C. (South Carolina Gazette)

“A Plantation about two Miles above Goose- Creek Bridge . . . [having] a Garden of each Side of the House, with Posts, Rails and Pails of the best Stuff, all plained & painted, & brick’d underneath, a Fish-pond well stored with Perch, Roach, Pike, Eels and Cat-fish . . . a Spring within 3 Stones throw of the House, intended for a Cold Bath, and House over it, 3 large Dam-ponds, whose Banks with some small Repairs, may drown upwards of 100 Acres of Land, which being very plentifully stored with Game all the Winter Season, affords great Diversion.”

Pinckney, Eliza Lucas, c. May 1743, describing Crowfield, plantation of William Middleton, vicinity of Charleston, S.C. (1972: 61)

“come to the bottom of this charming spott where is a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle—the top of which is level with the dwelling house and upon it is a roman temple. On each side of this are other large fish ponds properly disposed which form a fine prospect of water from the house.”

Kalm, Pehr, 12 November 1748, describing the springs in Pennsylvania (1937: 1:161)

“Not only people of rank but even others that had some possessions, frequently had fish ponds in the country near their homes.”

Murray, John, 18 June 1753, describing Murraywhaite, home of John Murray, Charleston, S.C. (Scottish Record Office, Murraywhaithe Collection, GO219/284/5)

“By all means mention the fine Improvements of your garden & the fine avenues you’ve raised near the spot where you’r to build your new house. I hope you’ll raise it in the English Taste. . . . You’ll certainly dig a Fish pond & another for geese & Ducks & one Swan. . . .”

Drowne, Samuel, 23 June 1767, describing Mal- bone Hall, country seat of Godfrey Malbone, Newport, R.I. (Brown University, John Hay Library, Drowne Family Papers, typescript)

“I went up to Colonel Molbones House or the ruins of His House there was a fine garden and Summer House. There His House was Built of Stone and marvel had Six Chimneys and in His garden was a fish pond and a Duck pond the water was Drawn out of the fish pond when His House was Burnt.”

Anonymous, 12 December 1768, describing in the South Carolina and American General Gazette a property in the vicinity of Charleston, S.C. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; hereafter CWF)

“For Sale, by private Contract, A LOT of LAND on White-Point . . . on which there is a . . . brick summer-house, with two fish ponds neatly bricked in, and several other convenience.” Quincy, Josiah, 3 May 1773, describing the country seat of John Dickinsen, near Philadelphia, Pa. (CWF)

“This worthy and arch-politician . . . here enjoys otium cum dignitate as much as any man. Take into consideration the antique look of his house, his gardens, green-house, bathing-house, grotto, study, fish-pond, fields, meadows, vista, through which is distant prospect of Delaware River.”

Anonymous, 23 February 1786, describing in the State Gazette a pleasure garden in Charleston, S.C. (quoted in Briggs 1951: 103)

“An enclosure of about 20 acres in this plat, adjoining the marsh, and in full view of Wallace’s ferry, is set apart for a PLEASURE GARDEN; about seven or eight acres of this, including three canals or fish-ponds are already laid out and improved in a taste no where exceeded in this State. The canals abound with fish.”

Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 14 July 1787, describing Bartram Botanic Garden and Nursery, vicinity of Philadelphia, Pa. (1987: 1:273)

“It [the garden] is finely situated, as it partakes of every kind of soil, has a fine stream of water, and an artificial pond, where he has a good collection of aquatic plants.” [Fig. 12]

Bentley, William, 12 June 1791, describing Pleasant Hill, seat of Joseph Barrell, Charlestown, Mass. (1962: 1:264)

“Was politely received at dinner by Mr Barrell, & family, who shewed me his large & elegant arrangements for amusement, & philosophic experiments. . . . His Garden is beyond any example I have seen. A young grove is growing in the back ground, in the middle of which is a pond, decorated with four ships at anchor, & a marble figure in the centre.” [Fig. 13]

Clitherall, Eliza Caroline Burgwin, active 1801, describing the Hermitage, seat of John Burg- win, Wilmington, N.C. (quoted in Flowers 1983: 125)

“The Gardens were large, and laid out in the English style—a Creek wound thro’ the largest, upon its banks grew native shrubbery; in this Garden were several Alcoves, Summer Houses, a hothouse— an Octagon summer house high and a Gardener’s tool house beneath—a fishpond, communicating with the Creek, both producing abundance of fish.”

Jefferson, Thomas, c. 1804, describing improvements for Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (quoted in Martin 1991: 157) “a fish pond to be visible from the house.”

Peale, Charles Willson, 15, 27, 29 March 1814,

in a letter to his sons, Benjamin Franklin Peale and Titian Ramsey Peale, describing Belfield, estate of Charles Willson Peale, Germantown, Pa. (Miller, Hart, and Ward, eds., 1991: 3:239)

“when my leasure and I can spare a man to hall dirt I will raise the water in the fish Pond which will encrease its surfaces considerably raising the water to the stone wall at the head of the Pond, deeper, and more water, will be better for fish & will raise the get [jet] at the fountain considerably.”

Columbian Institute, 1823, in a report describing the Columbian Institute, Washington, D.C. (quoted in O’Malley 1989: 127)

“An elliptical pond had been formed 144 feet for the transverse and 100 feet for the conjugate diameter, with an island in the middle 114 feet by 85 feet.”

Peale, Charles Willson, c. 1825, describing Belfield, estate of Charles Willson Peale, German


town, Pa. (Miller, Hart, and Ward, eds., 2000: 5:382)

“Having a good spring-house the water from it supplied a small fish-pond, in which he put many cat-fish brought from the Schulkill and although they lived and perhaps might be breed there yet being petts never was served at his table.”

Wailes, Benjamin L. C., 29 December 1829,

describing Lemon Hill, estate of Henry Pratt, Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Moore 1954: 359)

“But the most enchanting prospect is towards the grand pleasure grove & green house of a Mr. Prat[t], a gentleman of fortune, and to this we next proceeded by a circutous [sic] rout, passing in view of the fish ponds, bowers, rustic retreats, summer houses, fountains, grotto, &c., &c. . . . Next is a round fish pond with a small fountain playing in the pond. An Oval & several oblong fish ponds of larger size follow, & between the two last is an artificial cascade. Several summer houses in rustic style are made by nailing bark on the outside & thaching the roof. There is also a

rustic seat built in the branches of a tree, & to which a flight of steps ascend. In one of the summer houses is a Spring with seats around it. The houses are all embelished [sic] with marble busts of Venus, Appollo, Diana and a Bacanti. One sits on an Island on the fish pond. All the ponds filled with handsome coloured fish.”

Committee of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 1830, describing Lemon Hill, estate of Henry Pratt, Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Boyd 1929: 432)

“There are some pretty bowers, summer houses, grottos and fish ponds in this garden—the latter well stored with gold and silver fish.”

Dearborn, H.A.S., 30 September 1831, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Ward 1831: 48)

“The nurseries may be established, the departments for culinary vegetables, fruit, and ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers, laid out and planted, a green house built, hot-beds formed, the small ponds and morasses converted into picturesque sheets of water, and their margins diversified by clumps and belts of our most splendid native flowering trees, and shrubs, requiring a soil thus constituted for their successful cultivation, while their surface may be spangled with the brilliant blossoms of Nymphae, and the other beautiful tribes of aquatic plants.”

Dearborn, H.A.S., 1832, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Harris 1832: 80)

“The upper Garden Pond has been excavated, to a sufficient depth to afford a constant sheet of water, with a fall at the outlet of three feet, and being embanked, avenues with a border of six feet, for shrubs and flowers, have been made all round it. . . .

“Arrangements have been made for excavating, to a greater depth, Forest and Consecration- Dell Ponds, and surrounding them by embellished pathways, like those of Garden-Pond, and for cleaning the eastern portion of Garden and of Meadow Ponds, of bushes and weeds; all which will be done during the winter, that season being the most favorable for such work.” [Fig. 14]

Forman, Martha Ogle, 17 December 1833,

describing Rose Hill, home of Martha Ogle For- man, Baltimore County, Md. (1976: 329)

“The fish pond dam broke. A tremendous storm wind and rain.”

Anonymous, 1839, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (Picturesque Pocket Companion 1839: Appendix, 41)

“The streams, and parcels of bog and meadowland may be easily converted into ponds, and variously formed sheets of water, which will furnish appropriate positions for aquatic plants, while their borders may be planted with Rhododendrons, Azaleas, several species of the superb Magnolia, and other plants, which require a constantly humid soil, and decayed vegetable matter, for their nourishment.”

Hovey, C. M., November 1839, “Notices of Gardens and Horticulture, in Salem, Mass,” describing Elias Hasket Derby House, Salem, Mass. (Magazine of Horticulture 5: 411)

“In the centre of the garden is a small oval pond, containing gold fish: this pond is hedged round with the buckthorn, which has now been planted over thirty years! It is not over eight feet high, and is thickly set with branches and foliage from the top to bottom, and perfectly impenetrable.”

Adams, Rev. Nehemiah, 1842, describing Boston Common, Boston, Mass. ([Adams] 1842: 19–20)

“The Common is adorned by a pond of fresh water. . . .

“This pond of water has had, and will continue to have, a powerful influence on the rising generations of this city. With the little child . . . it is his Atlantic, as a place of danger and adventure. . . . There are as many clearances and arrivals of boats, sloops and schooners, from its rock-bound shores, during the year, as from most of our sea ports. . . .When winter comes, the pond is the scene of as great interest and excitement as in the summer. Its frozen surface is cut by innumerable skates.”

W., February 1842, describing Lowell Cemetery, Lowell, Mass. (Magazine of Horticulture 8: 49)

“The northern and southern boundaries embrace a range of high grounds, covered for the most part with a young and verdant growth of trees: these high grounds gradually and abruptly slope towards the centre or valley, through which runs a brook, supplying several large ponds for the season, also sufficient for supplying a fountain of about one hundred feet head.”

Longfellow, Alexander W., January 1844,

describing the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Evans 1993: 38)

“We were very busy planning the grounds & I laid out a linden avenue for the Professor’s private walk. I was often reminded of your fancy for such things. . . . The house is to be repaired but not essentially altered, the old out buildings to be removed, trees planted a pond, & rustic bridge, created the pond is an apology for the bridge.”

B., P., January 1844, “Progress of Horticulture in Rochester, N.Y.,” describing the residence of John Robert Murray, Mount Morris, N.Y. (Magazine of Horticulture 10: 18)

“In the rear of the dwelling is a deep ravine, in which there are two fish ponds, with a good supply of trout; from these water is conveyed to the house by means of a forcing pump.”

Cleaveland, Nehemiah, 1847, describing Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. (p. vi)

“To preserve, at all times, the supply and the transparency of the smaller ponds—to facilitate the sprinkling of the roads, and the irrigation of the grounds during periods of drought and dust— and especially to enrich the scenery, already so lovely, with a perfecting charm, the unfailing water of Sylvan Lake has been lifted into an ele


vated reservoir. Distributing pipes have been laid, and the visiter of the coming season will be refreshed by the sparkling beauty and gentle murmur of fountain and stream.”

Notman, John, 1848, describing his designs for the Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va. (quoted in Greiff 1979: 145)

“The only piece of water I have considered desirable, is at the debouch of the water into the culvert at the canal; this would be easily dammed by a retaining wall (some twenty or thirty feet from the canal as the line may be) built of sufficient height to dam the water to the desired breadth of pond—this is to be recommended also as a regulator to the emission of the waters of the main run, rendering it placid in its bed, which once cut to the desired size and shape, will be without the trouble and expense of alteration.”

Kirkbride, Thomas S., April 1848, describing the pleasure grounds and farm of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, Philadelphia, Pa. (American Journal of Insanity 4: 348)

“At the extreme end of the deer-park, it is joined by the drying-yard which completes the separation of the sexes in that direction. In this yard, are the wash-house and the pump and pond from which water is raised into the tanks in the dome of the centre building. This pond is supplied from various springs on the premises, and there is ample space in the yard for drying clothes in fine weather.”

Hovey, C. M., October 1850, “Notes on Gardens and Nurseries,” describing a residence in Cambridge, Mass. (Magazine of Horticulture 16: 462)

“The sailing pond, with the exception of the walks around the border, and the planting of a few trees on the island in the centre, have been completed since last year, and a fine boat-house, to combine a bathing-house, &c., was now just being finished.” Downing, A. J., 1851, describing plans for improving the public grounds of Washington, D.C. (quoted in Washburn 1967: 55)

“5th: Fountain Park

“This Park would be chiefly remarkable for its water features. The Fountain would be chiefly supplied from a basin in the Capitol. The pond or lake might either be formed from the overflow of this fountain, or from a filtering drain from the canal. The earth that would be excavated to form this pond is needed to fill up low places now existing in this portion of the grounds.”

Citations

Images

Notes

  1. Noah Webster, “Pool” entry, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S. Converse, 1828), n.p., view on Zotero.
  2. A cistern generally referred to a receptacle built to collect and retain water, either from a stream, spring, or rainfall. Similar receptacles that collected ground water were called wells. Both cisterns and wells, ubiquitous features, were sometimes incorporated into landscape designs by placing them at intersections of walks or by ornamenting them with well heads, plantings, or other decorative treatments.
  3. A. J. Downing, A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1849), 347–67, view on Zotero.
  4. Ibid., 366–67, view on Zotero.
  5. Ibid., 348, view on Zotero.

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