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Historic Beauty

The Sunken Garden at The Elms gives visitors a trip back in time

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Peering out from the windows of The Elms, one of Newport’s historic mansions, you won’t even see it. This is because the Sunken Garden at The Elms is, in fact, sunken below the level of the main lawn. “The element of surprise is one of the great characteristics of this garden,” says Trudy Coxe, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Preservation Society of Newport County, a non-profit organization that operates the Newport Mansions. Visitors who cross the expansive lawn, explore the marble tea pavilions and investigate the three elaborate fountains are in for a treat. Marble steps lead down to the Sunken Garden, where a marvel of parterre beds of boxwood borders filled with pink begonias, blue ageratum, beautiful Japanese maple trees and other stunning trees and shrubs grow.

The history of this garden begins in 1907 when the architect of the Berwind family mansion, Horace Trumbauer, began working with gardener Bruce Butterton on the Sunken Garden. The marble pavilions were also designed by Trumbauer, inspired by the French Pavilion in the gardens of the Petit Trianon at Versailles. “French landscape designer Jacques Greber advised on the design of the parterre beds, creating a colorful display at either end of the garden with blue ageratum against a backdrop of red Japanese maples, hinoki cypress and American spruce,” says Coxe. “Fountains, rows of clipped arborvitae and hedges of ivy complete this classical scheme combining water, greenery and stone.” During the 1990s, the Preservation Society put forth $2.1 million to restore the garden, completing the restoration just in time for The Elms Centennial in 2001.

The Elms is an official historic property as well as a National Historic Landmark. The restoration of The Elms Sunken Garden won a Preservation Merit Award from Preserve Rhode Island, and a Historic Preservation Project Award from the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. The Preservation Society has a staff of gardeners and landscapers who maintain the 88 acres of gardens and grounds at all of its historic Newport properties. Admission to the grounds and gardens is included in a ticket to tour The Elms, and visitors are always encouraged to stroll down to the back of the 10-acre property and allow both the mind and the green thumb to boggle.

367 Bellevue Avenue, Newport. 847-1000.

Sunken Garden, The Elms, newport, parks, public spaces, outdoors, gardens, so rhode island

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