Gardens

The main Brown Mansion gardens were on a slope at the south of the home.  A series of horizontal cement terraces divided the slope.  A central walkway and steps led from the south veranda to a circular bed at the bottom of the slope.  Paired columns lined the walkway.  During the early days of the Mansion, arches covered with vines joined each pair of columns, making the walkway into a pergoda.  A low wall crossed the south of the gardens.  The columns in this wall offered areas for urns.  A border of tall evergreens provided a frame south of the garden wall.  The terraces, walls, and columns were made of bricks covered with cement. 

Today the main gardens’ terraces, columns, wall, and circular bed remain.  Volunteers care for the flowers and shrubs.  The south garden is the site of many weddings.

North of the home was a second garden area, one which greeted visitors as they approached the house.  A half-circle drive curved around this front garden.  A porte-cochere at the Mansion entrance allowed rainy-day visitors to enter the Mansion without getting wet.  Flower beds lined the inside of this drive, and a larger bed with shrubs as well as flowers lay just north of the porte-cochere.

Today the drive and flower beds remain, lovingly tended by volunteers.  The porte-cochere still guards the entrance, but is no longer used to drop off visitors as today’s cars are too wide to enter the area.