You are now standing at the corner of the North Garden. Before we explore the flowers here, note the contrast between this, formal, English-style border garden and the Great Lawn beyond, sloping gently down to Narragansett Bay. Landscape architect John DeWolf designed these grounds with the intent to blur the lines between the natural and the planned, the free flowing and the formal.

 

To learn about the garden’s maintenance and changes over the years, click on “Learn More” below.

 

Now, turn back and walk to the flower beds on the other side of the entrance. Look carefully at the stone wall along the south edge of the garden, where there is a stone star. This “North Star” as it was dubbed, was salvaged from one of the north-facing towers in original house that burned down in 1906.

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I’ll tell you more about the original house and the one you see now later on in the tour.

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For now, walk up to the sunken fountain. Notice the flat patch of lawn leading up to it. Bessie, her eldest daughter Marjorie, and their many visitors used to play lawn bowls here, a game similar to bocce ball. You can see historical pictures of this if you click “Learn More” below.

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Notice that the gravel path of the North Garden ends with a large round engraved stone. This millstone was placed here in 1915. A rough stepping-stone pathway leads forward from this into the Bosquet.