Folk painting by an unknown artist depicting a grand plantation house with falling gardens that lead to the water’s edge, circa 1825.

Folk painting by an unknown artist depicting a grand plantation house with falling gardens that lead to the water’s edge, circa 1825. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Gardens

Margaret Tilghman Carroll and her husband were avid horticulturists. Under their direction, Mount Clare became an exquisitely landscaped estate.
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Reconstructed orangery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Reconstructed orangery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Courtesy of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.

Greenhouses

The Carroll’s had two heated greenhouses built to grow exotic fruits to showcase their wealth.
Onions by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881.

Onions by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881.

Gardens of the Enslaved

Enslaved people cultivated small patches of ground to supplement their meager rations.