Connecting the Conservatory to the Garden

Connecting the Conservatory to the Garden. . , In a multi-year project called From the Ground Up under the direction of archaeologist Ann Johnson, students, scouts, families, and summer day-campers excavated the tunnel, sections of the garden, and the conservatory floor., In the garden, they uncovered part of the foundation for the house where Abram and his first wife Hannah lived with their children until her death in 1861. They also found evidence of early plantings including the button rose. The discovery of the dirt floor in the conservatory suggests the room was a place to grow flowers rather than a place to display flowers., The conservatory floor behind this panel was originally dirt. In the 1920s, it was covered with cement, which was removed in 2012 for archaeological examination. The metal plate in the floor covers the original cistern for water. When the fireplace was closed it was filled with rocks. The doorway to the left enters into the front hallway and other door into Abram Piatt's office, revealing the only remaining piece of the original window frames. The stone stairway to the right leads underground and into the circle garden., The button rose has been growing in the garden since the 1870s, and it is portrayed in the drawing room ceiling.