[Albion Wilde]

Fantastic Founders' gardens thread, all! I'm late to the party, but having grown up around here, I can say that several of the Founders' homes are well worth touring.

The farm and gardens at George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, are wonderful to visit, as is the indoor visitor center. Takes most of a day to really see all points of interest. At the time, Geo. Washington was the wealthiest man in America. His estate being situated on the Potomac River about 15 miles south of DC, he was able to ship his farm and fishery products to other states and Europe.

Mount Vernon's four-acre Farm site explores George Washington’s role as a visionary farmer.

George Washington's estate features four separate gardens for guests to enjoy.

Not too far from Mount Vernon is James Madison's Montpelier, the central Virginia home of the author of the Constitution. Until 1984, private owners from the duPont family had overlaid the structure with "modern improvements." For the past 20 years, a foundation took over and has been slowly returning the estate to its original look—except, perhaps, for the riding-mower stripes on the lawn, which during Madison's time was kept trim by a herd of sheep. A kitchen garden and formal gardens in the French style are in stages of restoration. I toured Montpelier maybe 10 years ago when they had just ripped many of the interior walls down to the brick—it is much more developed now. The view of rolling hills descending to the horizon from the room where Madison wrote the Constitution is not to be missed!

James Madison's Montpelier

Thomas Jefferson's renowned Virginia home, Monticello, also features beautiful flower and vegetable gardens, fruit orchards and vineyards, if you can stand the recent woke alterations to the tour narratives:

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Farm and Gardens

[Qiviut]

Some years ago, I had the pleasure of working on some of the trails in the Old-Growth Landmark Forest at Madison’s Montpelier. We were doing tread improvements & putting in erosion controls.

After our work, we were treated to a tour of the house, which at the time was under renovation. We also got to see the movie at the visitor’s center & walked around the garden(s). It was a bautiful day weather-wise, too - in total, a great experience.

I’ve seen the gardens at Monticello as well .... inspires you to want to “up” your garden game considerably at home! There was (and maybe still is) an arch covered in Hyacinth Bean Vines ... it used to be you could buy seeds at Monticello. We got some seeds from a friend who bought them there and have grown them on our place in years past.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks! Great addition to our thread! Visiting Monticello is on my Bucket List.

We have a Monticello, WI but it’s just not the same, LOL!