in the garden

It seems fitting to round out the week with a little garden tour. The Paca House (which some of you may remember from a previous house tour two years ago) is extraordinary for its garden. A hybrid of classic Palladian symmetry and Repton-style "wilderness," the garden is reconstruction of the original. During the first half of the 20th century, the house was used as a hotel, and a 200-room addition and parking lot were built over the garden. In 1965 the Historic Annapolis Foundation saved the property from demolition, and returned the house to its original 18th-century appearance, removing the addition and painstakingly restoring the garden through archeological investigation (which you can read more about here). The upper garden is comprised of four terraced parterres, and a vegetable garden lined with espaliered fruit trees. The lower garden features a fish-shaped pond, Chinese Chippendale-style bridge, summerhouse, and spring house. For a few more images, please see my flickr: here (April 2009) and here (May 2007).