John Bartram's Home a 100 years ago.
Note: Take a day and take a trip back to a hidden gem, visit Bartram's Garden
Bartram's Garden is a 45-acre National Historic Landmark operated by the John Bartram Association in cooperation with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. ... Visit Us. 5400 Lindbergh Blvd. Philadelphia, PA 19143
“A visitor to Bartram’s Garden,
Philadelphia, is promptly ushered into an atmosphere redolent of Colonial days,
for the quaint house standing in the midst of this early American botanical
garden, is the one built by the botanist himself in 1734.
“It is of gray stone, and over
its northern walls clamber dense ivy vines.
The southern end, freer of vines, is pierced by two large windows, with
curiously carven supports. Forth years
after the house was built, a smooth block of stone was inserted between these
windows (upper and lower) upon which was carved an inscription:
“’Tis
God alone, Almighty Lord,
The
Holy One by me adored.
--John Bartram ”
“Dormer windows jet out from the
roof of the old house and between its two projecting wings is a porch supported
by a stone pillar. From the front of the
house, the famous botanic garden, probably the first one in America, slopes
gently down to the Schuylkill River.
“A writer of the day tells us
that when Charles Kingsley was in Philadelphia, some years ago, he visited this
old garden, which contained rare trees, native and foreign, deciduous and
evergreen of many varieties, blossoming shrubs, white and red cedars, spruces,
pines, and firs thick with shade and spicy with odor.
“John Bartram, founder of the
garden, was born near Darby Village, which is now an actual part of
Philadelphia, although situated in another country. The date of his birth was March 23,
1699. He was of English descent, his
grandfather having come to America with his sons in 1682, the year Philadelphia
was founded. Only one son, William,
married, and John Bartram was his oldest son.
John Bartram inherited his uncle’s farm, and it is said that he turned
his attention to botany, by what seemed to be an accident. While plowing, one day, he sat down to rest
and, plucking up a daisy mechanically, began picking it to pieces. His interest became aroused, and studying its
structure, he fell to wondering the purpose of the several parts of the flower.
“What a shame it is,” he said to
himself, “that for so many years I have been employed in filling the earth and
destroying as many flowers and plants without being acquainted with their
structure and use.”
“A desire for knowledge along
these lines seemed suddenly born within him, full-grown. In a few days he traveled to Philadelphia,
and since the only obtainable book on botany was written in Latin, it is said
he also purchased a Latin grammar, and studied the language, in order to read
what was written about plant life. This
is the story usually told, but his son indicates that the father had had the
rudiments of a classical education and that he had always sought the society of
learned men.
“James Logan sent to England for
a copy of Parkinson’s Herbal, which he presented to Bartram. The latter then began to botanize all over
his farm, acquainting himself with every plant, shrub and tree in the entire
neighborhood. As opportunity offered, he
made trips through neighboring New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. Later he traveled to Virginia, the Carolinas
and New York; until, in fact, he was acquainted with the nature and habits of
every plant that grew between the Atlantic and the Allegheny range, and had
recorded his observations with scientific exactness.”
“At first he traveled at his own
expense and his trips gave him a great variety of new, beautiful or useful
trees and plants. A young Philadelphia
merchant carried John Bartram’s botanical notes to England, to Peter Collinson,
a rich Quaker and a noted botanist. The
latter at once began a correspondence with Bartram. “Indeed,” we are told, “it may be said that
through John Bartram the vegetable wealth of North America was communicated to
Europe.”
The two botanists, both Friends,
not only exchanged long letters on the subject of mutual interest, but seeds,
roots, slips and plants by every ship.
Those which John Bartram sent from Philadelphia were tested by Collinson
in his own garden and distributed among noblemen, for use in their parks. To encourage and assist Bartram in his
investigations of the flora of a new land, Peter Collinson, the duke of
Richmond and Lord Petre subscribed each ten guineas per year, the value of
which was to be returned them in American seeds and roots. Later, John Bartram was made botanist to the
king, at a salary of 50 pounds per year.
“This,” says Dr. Harshberger, “was one of the wisest expenditures a king
ever made, for it introduced into English parks and gardens every vegetable
production of North America which could be of value.” Among these were bush honeysuckles, fiery lilies,
mountain laurel, dog-tooth violets, wild asters, gentian, ginseng, and sweet
fern, and such trees as the magnolia, tulips, locust, and witch hazel. He also sent cones of the spruce, hemlock,
red and white cedar, and seeds of the sugar maple, “about which the Englishmen
were very curious.”
“But the introduction of plants
was not all one-sided. In 1735,
Collinson sent many shrubs, trees and flowers, which were new to America. Among these, we are told, were tulips, double
sweet briar roses, and twenty varieties of crocus, lilies, narcissus,
gladiolus, iris, snapdragon, cyclamens, and carnations. These were all tested in “Bartram’s Garden,”
and thence introduced to America.
“Bartram was busy continually
with his explorations, and he allowed the dangers to stand in the way. In the course of his journeys in the
wilderness, he made accurate drafts and surveys of widths, depths and course of
streams and lakes together with observations on the soil, etc. These were all approved by the Governor, and
sent to the Board of Trade, and Plantations in England, which published them.
“In Bartram’s Garden, side by
side with the importations from Europe, there grew the many new and curious
American plants he had discovered. One
of these, known as the “giant cypress,” grew to great size, and live to great
age.
“It was while on a trip through
Florida that John Bartram lost his riding whip.
Looking about for a switch, he saw a sapling in a swampy spot by the
river. Lifting it by the roots, he
carried it home, and planted it, predicting that it would grow to a great size.
“It is said that Washington and
Franklin frequently visited the garden, prior to the Revolution, and sat in
converse in the grape arbor. After the
death of Bartram, which occurred just before the Battle of Brandywine, the
garden was kept up by his son, William, who inherited the
father’s love of plants. After his
death, it passed to Bartram’s daughter, whose husband devoted himself with
great care to preserving the collection.
From their hands it passed to another owner, whose sentimental fondness
for the place led him to preserve it, but at the outbreak of the civil War his
fortunes declined. As the city had
failed to secure the property, it gradually fell into disrepair, and was open
to depredation and despoliation.
“In 1839 it was purchased by the
city of Philadelphia, and thus a unique institution has been preserved.
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