Perched on a hill in Manchester overlooking the Battenkill Valley lies Hildene, the Lincoln family estate. Originally built by Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, the property features a stately mansion and expansive gardens. Due to its significant historical importance, this Vermont landmark has drawn the attention of historians, tourists and garden enthusiasts alike.
Built in 1905, the 412-acre property includes a Georgian revival mansion, fourteen historic buildings, two working farms, a formal garden and a cutting and kitchen garden.
Following the death of Mary Lincoln Beckwith, the last Lincoln descendant to live at Hildene, the local non-profit organization, Friends of Hildene, raised funds to purchase the estate in 1978. Restoration of the formal gardens began that same year and is ongoing.
The formal gardens are an American version of a French parterre. A parterre (French for “on the ground”) is a formal garden with colorful flowerbeds enclosed in box-shaped hedges that form the garden’s structure. Sections of hedges are often separated by gravel, brick or cobblestone paths.
Parterres are known for the overall geometric shapes formed by their boxwood hedging, their most striking feature. They are designed to be appreciated from a higher vantage point, which explains their presence near castles and estates.
Hildene’s parterre with its closely cropped hedges of privet was designed by Robert Todd Lincoln’s daughter, Jessie Lincoln Beckwith, as a gift to her mother, Mary Harlan Lincoln. When seen from the mansion’s second floor, the parterre resembles a stained-glass window where the privet hedge represents the lead contours and the flowerbeds the glass panes.
At Hildene, the formal garden has been restored to Jesse’s original plans. It has been admired for its symmetry, beauty and attention to detail. Sections of the parterre were replanted with the original color scheme from updated hybrids of turn-of-the-century flowers.
Most of the hedges and peonies are original plantings. These peonies have survived for over 100 years, producing thousands of blooms each June. In 2005, a pergola recreated from historical photos was built, and in spring 2020, a full restoration of the original privet hedges dating back to 1908 began.
The kitchen garden, located where the Lincoln family spent time relaxing, supplied the family with fruit and vegetables. Today, it is managed by volunteers and harvested for the benefit of the local food shelter. In addition, the Hildene Flower Ladies, a volunteer group, tends to the cutting garden and gathers fresh flower bouquets for the mansion and its welcome center.
Hildene also boasts a butterfly garden filled with nectar and host plants that bloom in succession throughout the season to attract a variety of butterflies and other pollinators. This garden is used in education programs for children to explore the habitat, life cycle and migration of monarch butterflies.
Pollinator sanctuaries are not limited to the butterfly garden but are found throughout the property in pollinator meadows, pathways and dandelion lawns.
In the same area, visitors can marvel at the berry cage, a large, framed structure covered in wire netting. Inside, several berry bushes, including blueberries, raspberries and gooseberries, grow shielded from voracious birds and squirrels.
The gardens at Hildene are part of a larger preservation effort. They often host cultural programs, events and garden tours that attract a wide audience. While preserving the past, Hildene’s gardeners apply many sustainable and organic practices to protect the future of this landmark of rich heritage.
The diverse tree species, colorful flowerbeds and ever-changing seasonal plantings are sure to captivate those interested in gardening and landscape design. Hildene also has more than 12 miles of trails open to the public year-round, making this a perfect destination for warm-weather walkers as well as Nordic sports aficionados.
For more information, visit www.hildene.org or call (802) 367-7968.