A Glimpse of Gardens Past

To wander the garden paths at Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site today is to be transported almost two hundred years into the past, when the noisette, bourbon, and polyantha roses still flourishing here were tended to by the gardens’ founder, Martha Turnbull.

Turnbull’s Garden Diaries – a portal to the early 19th century

Turnbull, the wife of one of the nation’s wealthiest cotton planters and a gifted horticulturist, left open a vivid portal to the height of the plantation era in her remarkable garden diaries, which she maintained from 1836–1894. Turnbull’s detailed and intimate notes have made it possible for 21st century researchers and visitors alike to not only learn about the realities of plantation life in the early nineteenth century, but also to experience Rosedown’s twenty-eight acres of gardens today, almost exactly as they would have appeared under her inspired hand.

The conservation of Turnbull’s original English and French formal garden designs is due in large part to the dedicated work of Catherine Fondren-Underwood, who purchased Rosedown from the Turnbull family in 1955, and oversaw an eight-year, $10 million restoration of the home and gardens before opening them to the public in 1962. “When Mrs. Underwood purchased the property, the gardens were a jungle,” said Trish Aleshire, site manager at Rosedown Plantation. “She was dedicated to recreating them as they were, using the diaries.”

Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site

“A very trial-and-error garden”

The property’s century-old roses, azaleas, sweet olives, and crepe myrtles were carefully conserved, as were the ancient live oaks, some of which are over three hundred years old. “We are a national landmark today because of the intact-ness and age of the specimens in Rosedown’s garden,” Aleshire said, noting that Turnbull’s diaries also contribute a layer of rich historical storytelling to the garden information. “We have lists and receipts of all the varieties she was purchasing from nurseries way up north—from Flushing, New York and Philadelphia,” she said. “Her diary shows us which things were doing really well here, and which weren’t. It was a very trial-and-error garden.”

The diaries also reveal much about the enslaved gardeners whose labor and skill made Turnbull’s masterpiece possible. “We learn all about the head of the gardening team— especially Augustus, who was a master at plant propagation,” said Aleshire. Augustus’s mark on the gardens lives on in the property’s vast collection of flora—many of which came from his cuttings and grafts. After Augustus’s death, which took place after he had been granted freedom and payment for his work in the gardens in the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, Turnbull wrote that the gardens were never quite the same.

Now preserved as a state historic site by Louisiana’s Office of State Parks, Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site is open to the public from 9 am–5 pm seven days a week. Admission to the gardens is $7; $5 for seniors (62 and older); free for children six and younger. Guided house tours are offered for $12; $10 for seniors; free for children. lastateparks.com/historic-sites/rosedown-plantation-state-historic-site.