Our first stop will be Tudor Place. the we are off to enjoy lunch in DC. Our final stop is at the US Botanical Gardens of DC.
The House
Thomas Peter, son of the first mayor of Georgetown, and his wife Martha Custis, granddaughter of Martha Washington, purchased an 8 1/2-acre city lot in 1805 with an $8,000 legacy from George Washington. A grand residence was designed by Dr. William Thornton, a self-taught architect, on the land to overlook the Potomac River. Thornton's other Washington buildings include the first United States Capitol and The Octagon. A National Historic Landmark, Tudor Place is known nationally and internationally as a premier example of American neoclassical architecture.
During 179 years of single-family ownership, an impressive collection of European and American decorative arts were amassed. Highlights include over 100 objects originally belonging to George and Martha Washington, an outstanding 19th- century American silver collection, and an extraordinary porcelain collection. An extensive collection of furniture, glassware, sculpture, portraits, prints, and textiles tell the story of each generation. The house, furnishings, and grounds are well documented by a remarkable archival collection including letters, diaries, books, bills, and photographs.
Dining Room ~ This room was used as a bedroom/sitting room by Martha Custis Peter up until the late-19th century. Martha Custis Peter and Mrs. William Thornton, the wife of Tudor Place's architect, watched the burning of the U.S. Capitol by the British from this window in 1814. It was turned into a Dining Room in the early 20th century. ParlourThe Parlour, less formal than the Drawing Room, was used as both a parlour and a dining room through the late-19th century. During the Civil War, Britannia Peter Kennon took in Union boarders and it was
in this room that they took their meals. In the 20th century the Parlour was used as a Living room. Today, this room showcases many Peter family treasures once owned by George and Martha Washington, including a tea table, Revolutionary War camp stool, and important pieces of porcelain purchased by Washington when he was President in New York.
Saloon ~Visitors to Tudor Place entered through the vestibule and walked straight into the Saloon. The circular portico that extends into the
space of the room is a prominent architectural feature of the house. The visitor is delighted by a floor to ceiling wall of glass with panes
that appear to be curved. The architect is practicing an optical illusion, however, for it is the woodwork that is curved and not the glass.
Access to the South lawn is provided by the center windows of the Saloon. The name Saloon is taken from the British adaptation of the
French term, Salon.
Drawing Room ~ The Drawing Room is the more formal of the two parlours. During the construction of Tudor Place, an African-American craftsmen named Sam Collins cast the plasterwork for this room in the Conservatory. It was the scene of many formal entertainments, such as a reception for the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. Today this room features a portion of the Peter family's extensive porcelain collection,
including examples from the Meissen, Derby and Bow factories.
The Garden
Thomas Peter, a landowner and tobacco merchant, and his wife, Martha Custis Peter, grandaughter of Martha Washington, purchased 8 1/2 acres on the outskirts of Georgetown in 1805. Today, the remaining 5 1/2 acres of this unique garden maintain much of the original Federal period design. In the early-19th century the family had many different requirements for the land including orchards, vegetable gardens, a stable, and grazing land for cows and horses. Six successive generations of the Peter family cared for and embellished the landscape as Georgetown and the Federal City grew around them. The last owner, Armistead Peter 3rd, completed major projects during the mid-20th century that shaped the gardens we see today.
Bowling Green
The Bowling Green was Armistead Peter 3rd's favorite spot in the garden. At the one end is the brick-edged Lily Pool adorned with a statue by sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett, stepfather to his first wife, Caroline. In 1909 Bartlett designed a portion of the pediment for the House wing of the U.S. Capitol Building, and is well represented in the Tudor Place collection. At the opposite end of the Bowling Green, terraced above, is the Summer House that offers a delightful view of the garden framed by sculptures of whippets.
Tennis Lawn
The Tennis Court Garden was originally a peach orchard. In 1885, the area was leveled for the Tudor Place Lawn Tennis Club. President Grover Cleveland used to pause and watch
the games on his way from the White House to his summer home in what is now the District of Columbia's Cleveland Park. The tennis court was removed in the early-20th century and the beautiful lawn was created with a screen of white pine, American holly, and magnolias. Kousa dogwoods (Cornus kousa), crape myrtles, and hydrangeas add seasonable displays of color.
Flower Knot
Much of the boxwood at Tudor Place was planted by Martha Custis Peter, including the remaining boxwood of the original Flower Knot. The reconstruction of the original Flower Knot, in a new location, took placein 1926 when the owners discovered the design had been
copied at Avenel ca. 1820.
Today you see many heirloom roses including moss, hybrid tea and old musk as well as the floribunda rose, Rosa Gruss an Auchan, a favorite of Caroline Peter, the last owner's wife. At the center of the Flower Knot stands the sundial from Crossbasket Castle, the ancentral home of the Peter family in Scotland.
Boxwood Ellipse
Tudor Place is reknown for its boxwood. The English Boxwood Ellipse (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa') was planted by Martha and Thomas Peter as the focal point for the approach to the main entrance of the house. Martha Peter also planted the boxwood that makes up the EastGarden. During the Civil War trespassers plundered the boxwoodfor Christmas wreaths. Many of the remaining bushes were moved ca. 1862 to the Lower Walk.
Japanese Tea House
The Tea House, built by Armistead Peter 3rd for outdoor lunches, offers a shady seat to view the Temple Portico of house. Next to theTea House, the Rose Arbor is covered with a wonderful yellow rose and a coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). An arbor has been in this location since the house was built. One owner remembers the perfume of the white lilacs just outside the old kitchen door. These lilacs were planted by Britannia Kennon and are still growing.
Tulip Poplar
The large Tulip Poplar located at the southeast corner of the lawn is 20 feet in circumference and over 100 feet tall. In 2002, it was designated the "Millenium Landmark Tree" for the District of Columbia by the America the Beautiful Fund. The South Lawn once provided an area for cattle to graze and a view of the port of Georgetown. The Tulip Poplar trees and American holly are original to the property.
Steeped in history, rich with tradition, the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is one of the oldest botanic gardens in North America. It informs visitors about the importance, and often irreplaceable value, of plants to the well-being of humankind and to earth’s fragile ecosystems. The Garden highlights the diversity of plants worldwide, as well as their aesthetic, cultural, economic, therapeutic, and ecological significance.
From jungle to desert to primeval paradise, the indoor gardens and galleries of our Conservatory offer the perfect foil to a winter day or harried schedule. The resplendent diversity of form, color, fruit, and fragrance reminds us that plants make our lives possible and enjoyable. Outdoors, our National Garden offers the finest of Mid-Atlantic plants and Bartholdi Park just across Independence Avenue demonstrates a variety of approaches to the home landscape.
For the 21st century, the USBG has committed itself to sustainability, educating the public about ways to live by supporting the interconnected web of life that is the environment, and in particular, by nurturing the plants that support the life on our planet
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