Historic Images from Mount Vernon's Upper Garden

c. 1920

A photographic lantern slide is a positive print sandwiched between two pieces of glass and bound together by a black paper tape. Often the photograph was painstakingly hand-colored to accentuate the image. The slide’s popularity took off in the late 19^th century and continued into the turn of the century. Handcoloring is applied to the photograph to capture the beautiful hues of the upper garden.

Object Number: 04_Magic Lantern Slide_RP-977_Slides-5408_002

c. 1889

Washington’s Greenhouse burned in 1835 and until the 20th century, the building sat in ruin.

This reprint of an original black and white photograph shows the remains of greenhouse slave quarters during winter.  

Object Number: DA_001521

1950

George Washington’s substantial brick greenhouse was the focal point of the upper garden. Damaged by fire in 1835, the buildings that followed (see earlier photographs) featured a variety of functional structures still serving as housing and plant cultivation but straying from the original design. Utilizing early insurance drawings and an existing foundation, the Association championed rebuilding the complex and returned the building to its original form. Renovations began in 1948 and were completed in 1951.

Object Number: 06_CS026

1973

A Victorian rose garden was added to the upper garden in the 1880s. Roses were not a species planted by Washington. Nevertheless, the flowers were prominently sold by the Association in the 1860s as bouquets, and later listed and marketed in an 1882 MVLA plant catalog. To better participate in Washington D.C.’s thriving cut-rose market, a rose house was built in 1888 at the east end of the garden. For more than one hundred years the outdated vestiges remained in the garden until removal in 1985.

Object Number: 08_1973_CS-1280

May 1990

For decades the upper garden has been highlighted in books, magazines, newspapers, and film. In May 1990, the television series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, featuring some of the world’s most beautiful noteworthy gardens, filmed a segment at Mount Vernon. The episode premiered on PBS in March 1993. Hepburn was posthumously awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement, Information Programming, in the fall of 1993.

Object Number: 09_CS-6822-3_Audrey Hepburn_May1990