A Romance with Nature: The Falling Garden

A Romance with Nature: The Falling Garden. Gardens and Parterres, ca. 1785-1904 , Hampton National Historic Site. , The jewel of Hampton’s cultural landscape and the focus of Ridgely family horticultural pursuits for 150 years is the Falling Garden. Constructed under Charles Ridgely “The Builder” in the 1780s, the Falling Garden was one of the largest earthmoving projects in America. The terraces were planted with geometric gardens called parterres from the French meaning “on the ground.” Originally laid out by 1810, they are attributed to William Booth, a renowned designer of the period., In the mid-19th century, Eliza Ridgely, third Mistress of Hampton, transformed the Falling Garden. Her gardening legacy remains apparent, with the creation of the Victorian Carpet Bedding displayed in Parterre II, in the plantings of many trees throughout the site, and in the construction of a number of outbuildings including several greenhouses. Professional gardeners supervised the planting and maintenance with workers, paid or enslaved, supplying the labor. The parterre designs you see before you are the same layout as those documented in plans and photographs in the late 19th century., (Inscription in the lower right) , Parterre I, shown in this 1879 photograph, retained its original geometric configuration through seven generations of the Ridgely family. The other parterres changed following the influences of gardening trends of the day.