Sotterley Plantation
In 1703 James Bowles, the son of a wealthy London tobacco merchant and member of Maryland’s Lower House of Assembly, established the plantation and two-room house that today stands as a unique record of a method of construction called post-in-ground architecture, once common in the Tidewater regions. The garden history really dates from 1910 when the new owner Herbert L. Satterlee called in experts to advise on the restoration of Sotterley.
The garden designed for the Satterlees was a re-creation of an 18th century garden and one that would have been typical of Sotterley at that time. It combines a vegetable garden, herb garden and fruit and nut trees, that would have been important in colonial times, plus an aesthetically pleasing garden of flowering plants.
It is set out in four squares, each one with a distinct purpose. The southwest square has always been a grassed area to serve as a croquet lawn and a place for children's games, whilst its opposite was originally planted with rows of crops and trees. Today this has been laid over to lawn, with some of the original fruit trees remaining. The other half of the garden is divided between a kitchen garden and cutting garden that would have supplied flowers to create arrangements for the manor house and carefully themed to match the colour schemes of the rooms, plus nursery beds.
The grounds are open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday, and Sunday, from noon to 4pm, excluding national holidays. Entry to the grounds only costs $3 and mansion tours are available for an extra fee.
Sotterley Plantation gardens
Contact details
44300 Sotterley Lane
Hollywood
Maryland 20636
001-301-373-2280
Website
William Paca House & Gardens
Many colonial Annapolitans had gardens, but only Paca’s has been restored to its original splendour and opened to the public. The William Paca House is one of the most elegant National Historic Landmarks in Annapolis and was built between 1763 and 1765 as a town home for William Paca, a wealthy young planter who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Paca laid out the two-acre pleasure garden, an oasis of natural beauty, while the house was being built. Over the years it sadly became overgrown and eventually disappeared, but during the 1960s and 1970s extensive excavations and research revealed the garden’s original features and led to their recreation.
The garden is defined by a series of stylish terraces. The upper terrace provided Paca with space for entertaining and viewing the rest of his garden. The precise geometric parterres of the middle terrace show off three seasons of colourful blooms, heirloom roses, and period-styled topiary. The lower terrace features an innovative fish-shaped pond with a bridge leading to a summerhouse, plus serpentine paths winding through lush lawns and beds of native plants. The garden is filled with plants popular in the 18th century that were researched from books and letters of the period.
The house and gardens are open daily from April to December, excluding Christmas, from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and noon to 5pm on Sunday, and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 5pm during March. Tickets are available to visit the gardens only and cost $5.
William Paca Gardens with Summerhouse, credit www.visitannapolis.org
Contact details
186 Prince George Street
Annapolis
Maryland 21401
001-410-267-7619
