Instructor

Constitution Gardens was established to commemorate the bicentennial of American independence. The memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence was dedicated in July 1984 and can be accessed by crossing a wooden bridge to the island. It consists of semi-circular plaza with large stones bearing the inscriptions of the signers' names and signatures as they appeared on the Declaration of Independence. The gardens is also home to a naturalization ceremony hosted by the National Parks Service for new U.S. citizens. Millions of visitors visit the site each year. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982.

The memorial honoring the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence is on the small island in the pond.

NPS Guide to the Memorial Honoring the 56 Signers 

More Info

Constitution Gardens is a fifty-acre park situated near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. The gardens was established in 1976 after President Nixon ordered that a park be established on the land. The site became a separate unit of the National Park Service in 1982 and is maintained by the National Capitol Parks-Central (NACC) division. The park also includes a memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, which is located on a small island in the pond. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was erected in 1982.

Constitutional Gardens Pond and Memorial to the Signers of the Declaration

History tours usually tell stories through buildings and human-made structures, but landscapes also tell important stories about the past. These gardens, conservatories, and horticultural sites represent the impact of human beings in shaping cultural landscapes. This tour explores the greater capital region; to stay within Washington, DC city limits, visit #2 and #5-9.

The Green Spring House is one of the last remaining 18th-century rural homes in Fairfax County. The property was originally part of a land grant in 1706 and was owned a series of individuals. The owner who built the house in 1784 was John Moss, who bought the property and 1,200 acres in northern Virginia in 1777. He grew tobacco, corn, and wheat. Moss was also a prominent political figure of the period. Before the Revolutionary War, he served as the crown commissioner of the king's revenue and justice of the court. During the war, he served in the Continental Army. In the years after the war, he was a member of a commission to monitor the 1788 presidential election, an overseer of the poor, commissioner of revenue for the county, commissioner of land tax, and county court justice. After Moss died, the property was divided among his two sons, William and Thomas. After Thomas died in 1839, the property passed on to a series of owners (and subdivided). The last private owners, Michael and Belinda Straight, bought the house and 33 acres in 1942. They were responsible for restoring the house and developing the grounds around it, what visitors see today. They hired Walter Macomber, Mount Vernon's (the home of George Washington) resident architect, and Beatrix Farrand, who was a notable landscape architect of the day. Both were known around the country and their work is what led to the house and grounds being placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Straights were prominent individuals themselves. Michael was an economist, writer, and editor and publisher of The New Republic; Belinda was well-known child psychologist. They knew and entertained many famous people at the house including writer Aldous Huxley, evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (Aldous's brother), and vice president Hubert Humphrey. In 1970, they donated the property to Fairfax County.

Green Spring Gardens is a public park that was once a plantation dating to the 18th century. It features the historic 1784 Green Spring House, a horticulture/visitor center, over 20 gardens, a greenhouse, and a museum. The house and the immediate property around it, which includes a farmhouse, spring house, and a family cemetery, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The horticulture/visitor center features a gift shop, a non-circulating library, and space for art exhibits. Visitors of all ages can also participate in a variety of programs and activities including garden tours, garden-related workshops, and lectures. 



Green Spring House and Gardens

The Hillwood estate was originally a mansion that was built
in Georgian-style architecture, and was bought by Marjorie Post in 1955.
Marjorie herself was born to Ella and Charles Post, the founders of the Post
cereal company, and inherited a business and entrepreneurial work ethic from
her parents, which led her to become a vastly successful businesswoman. At the
age of 27, Marjorie inherited the company and soon after was married and formed
a family. It was during this time that Marjorie began to develop a taste for
late 18th-century French art, which was popular among the upper class
in New York at the time, through the influence of art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen.
Several marriages later, Marjorie visited the Soviet Union as an ambassador,
where she discovered imperial Russia’s decorative arts, which she added to her
ever-growing artistic tastes.

After divorcing her third husband, Marjorie bought Hillwood
in 1955 in order to serve a dual purpose: to be a fashionable home with plenty
of staff, and to also be a location where she could display her sizeable
artistic collections. Hillwood soon became the site of innumerable parties
among the upper class in Washington, DC, as well as garden tea gatherings and
formal dinners. In addition, Hillwood was also made host to Vietnam veterans in
the 1960s and 1970s, where they could attend tea gatherings with live
entertainment. After Marjorie Post’s passing, Hillwood was formed into a
permanent museum, which strives to bring Marjorie’s passion for excellence,
hospitality, and fine art to those who visit the estate.

Since its purchase in 1955 by the businesswoman, socialite, philanthropist and collector Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood has served to function once as a place of residence, and forever as a museum to educate and awe those who visited it. Hillwood is known largely for its sizeable decorative arts collection that focuses heavily on the House of Romanov, a collection of French decorative art, and acres of sculpted gardens. Included in the collection are, among other pieces, Fabergé eggs, 18th and 19th century French art, and one of the country's finest orchid collections. Hillwood's mansion and gardens opened to the public in 1977 and are maintained by the Post Foundation.

Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens

The tree is a plane tree or sycamore, with the Latin name Platanus orientalis. In 1961, Greek Ambassador Alexis Liatis presented the National Library of Medicine with the small tree. It was a clone from a tree from the island of Cos. The ancient physician Hippocrates (ca. 460-375 B.C.), for whom the Hippocratic oath of "do no harm" is named, is said to have sat and taught under the parent tree. The library's new building was dedicated on December 14, 1961. Frank B. Rogers, the library's first director, was part of a planting ceremony in the spring of 1962. The original plaque was on a pumice stone base. A fungal disease to which sycamores are vulnerable took its toll on the tree's health from the 1980s onward. NIH Landscape Architect Lynn Mueller worked to keep the tree alive while also collaborating with the Champion Tree Project (now called Archangel Ancient Tree Archive) to create a clone. During the winter of 2012-2013, the original tree died, but still stood until 2013. The following year, The NIH planted two additional clone trees. One is here in front of the National Library of Medicine (the location of the original 1961 tree) and the other is in front of the NIH Clinical Center. April 25, 2014, Principal Deputy Director of the NIH Lawrence A. Tabak, Greek Ambassador Christos P. Panagopoulos, and NLM Director Donald A. B. Lindberg led the planting ceremony on April 25, 2015. During the ceremony, David J. Lipman, Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, also presented the DNA Barcode for the tree, demonstrating it as a clone of the parent tree. Amy Driscoll of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History sequenced a sample from the first NLM tree. The original volcanic stone base for the National Library of Medicine tree's plaque now holds the plaque for the other clone tree in front of the Clinical Center. At the National Library of Medicine site, the plaque has a new stone base.

This tree along the Bethesda Trolley Trail near the National Library of Medicine building is a clone of the tree on the island of Cos, Greece, under which Hippocrates,  the "father of medicine" is believed to have taught his students. In 1961, the Greek Ambassador gave a cutting from this parent tree to the National Institutes of Health on the occasion of the opening of the new National Library of Medicine Building. That tree died in 2013, but the NIH planted a new clone of the parent tree at the same site in 2014. A second clone of the Cos tree was planted in front of the NIH Clinical Center at the same time.

Tree of Hippocrates, National Library of Medicine

This tree's seed was one of many that traveled into space in the Apollo 14 command module in 1971 as part of a joint project between NASA and the US Forest Service. While Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the surface of the moon in February 1971, astronaut Stuart Roosa, a former US Forest Service wilderness firefighter, orbited the moon in the Apollo 14 command module, "Kitty Hawk." In the module were hundreds of seeds of loblolly pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood, and Douglas fir trees. Control seeds of these species were maintained on Earth for later comparison. Stan Krugman of the US Forest Service, who managed the project, sent the seeds that had returned from space to stations in Gulfport, Mississippi and Placerville, California to attempt germination. The seed canisters had burst open upon their return during decontamination, so they were assumed not to be viable, but surprisingly over 400 seedlings grew. Many were planted around the United States for the nation's bicentennial in 1976. Some were planted alongside the control seeds, and after several decades there was no observable difference between the earthbound seeds and those which had orbited the moon. No list or systematic tracking of the moon trees exists, though Dr. David R. Williams at NASA has been compiling a list of known "moon trees." On June 9, 1977, shortly after the opening of the Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, this sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) moon tree was planted. The tree now stands over 50 feet high.

This sycamore tree was planted in 1977 and grew from a seed that traveled around the moon. As part of a NASA/US Forest Service collaboration, Apollo 14's command module carried this seed and hundreds of others into space in early 1971 to study the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the ability of seeds to germinate and grow. Upon the return to Earth, the US Forest Service germinated the seeds and dispersed the seedlings all over the country and beyond. Many were planted to commemorate the US bicentennial. In June 1977, the NASA Goddard Space Center planted this sycamore shortly after the opening of its visitor's center.

Moon Tree

In the 1880s, Civil War veteran
Walter Shaw bought a patch of land that is today the Kenilworth Park and
Aquatic Gardens. Part of the reasoning behind purchasing the land was to make
space for aquatic gardens for him to grow. Though the wetlands themselves had
character to them, Shaw, a native of Maine, decided to bring in waterlilies
from the state, which quickly flourished. As the plants began to thrive, Shaw
decided to bring in a great deal of additional plants, and began crafting the
garden into a public attraction, the W.B. Shaw Lily Ponds, in 1912.

The W.B. Shaw Lily Ponds flourished
for the next decade, but in 1921, Shaw passed away, leaving the Ponds to his
daughter, Helen Shaw Fowler. By this time, the Ponds were a regular site of
visitation by numerous dignitaries and Presidents of the United States, but the
Anacostia River had recently been filled with an excessive amount of silt.
Because of this, the river had to be dredged, which threatened the livelihood
of the Ponds. Threatened with closure because of this, Fowler worked to keep
the Ponds alive, and in 1938, negotiation with Congress resulted in the
purchasing of the Ponds by Congress and converting it into a national park.

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in a National Park Services-maintained park that hosts a vast and diverse biological system, and is most notably home to numerous rare waterlilies and lotuses. In the 1800s, Walter Shaw selected the location to make into a water garden, bringing in plants from his native state of Maine. Today, the Park has expanded to include additional recreational facilities, and is open to visitors wishing to explore the wetlands.

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

By the beginning of the 1900s, casual discussion of constructing a national arboretum in the United States had been undertaken, as arboretums had existed worldwide dating back to the 1600s. It was not until 1901, however, that a commission was put together in order to inquire about the possibility of constructing one in the United States. Although a great deal of inquiry was put into the idea, and though it was eventually put before Congress, the actual execution was delayed indefinitely, both due to resistance of the government, as well as the advent of World War I. However, a group called the American Association of Nurserymen worked to set the idea in motion in the 1920s, and by 1924, they had gained enough support to propose a bill. After several re-issuings of the bill, it was finally passed by Congress and brought into law on March 4th, 1927. By 1929, 190 acres had been acquired for construction of the arboretum, which was enough for work to begin. Though work began slowly on the arboretum, it quickly came to a standstill in 1931 due to both topographical issues, as well as a great cut in funding brought about by the Great Depression. While this seemed as though the construction of the arboretum would be crippled, the committee was given financial aid from several outside sources over the next decade, and by 1946, the arboretum had reached the pinnacle of its collection. In 1958, the Capitol's sandstone columns in the east portico, dating to 1828, were replaced with marble columns. This same renovation led to the discarding of <a href="https://www.theclio.com/entry/100804" target="_blank">Capitol Stones in Rock Creek Park</a>. The columns remained in storage until 1984. The Department of Agriculture and private donors facilitated displaying the columns at the National Arboretum, where they have stood ever since. Today, the Arboretum sports numerous plants and exhibits for both research and education of visitors, as well as a Herbarium, and it continues to put forth publications that stem from the Arboretum’s research.

The National Arboretum is a natural museum of trees and other plant life that seeks to enhance the value of plant life and scientific research not just in the U.S. capital area, area, but on a national scale. It stretches over 446 acres in northeastern Washington, D.C., with 9.5 miles of roads and paths. Established in 1927 by an act of Congress, the National Arboretum cultivates its tree and herbarium collections both for research and educational purposes. The Arboretum also features early nineteenth-century sandstone columns which once supported the eastern portico of the U. S. Capitol building, which arrived in the arboretum in 1984.

United States National Arboretum

George Washington proposed the creation of a garden and plant museum for the capital in 1796.&nbsp;

Established by the U.S. Congress in 1820, this botanic garden is one of the oldest in the nation and reflects President George Washington's vision for the nation's capital which included aesthetically pleasing buildings and gardens. The indoor exhibits and gardens take users through a variety of natural environments and include many endangered species. The outdoor spaces offer a variety of species that are native to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. 

United States Botanic Garden Conservatory

Plans for a modern art museum on the National Mall dates back to 1938,
when Congress provided Smithsonian Institution with funds to create a museum
and select a site. It followed the National Gallery of Art, funded a year prior
by Andrew Mellon. However, the modern art museum project received no such
benefactor until 1964, when Joseph H. Hirshhorn agreed to donate his
collection to the Smithsonian. Hirshhorn was an entrepreneur and
financier who made a great deal of money from investing in uranium mining.
Hirshhorn’s amassed a prolific collection of modern and contemporary art,
considered the largest private collection at the time. He obtained a dynamic
and varied collection that included works of the French Impressionism movement,
American Modernism, and various types of sculpture. The Smithsonian’s
acquisition of Hirshhorn’s collection was part of broader expansions and
educational initiatives undertaken by S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution from 1964 to 1984. With the support of President Lyndon B. Johnson
and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, the gift was officially accepted in May 1966
and the museum established by an act of Congress in November. By the mid-twentieth century, the National Mall contained most
of the museums standing today. Planning involved careful consideration for the
National Mall’s past and future, including architectural styles, the logistics
of traffic, and views of iconic sites like the United States Capitol and
Washington Monument. Because the 1938 act that stipulated the modern art museum
be situated on the National Mall, Secretary Ripley and Hirshhorn considered a
variety of sites, including at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building and
near the National Archives. Hirshhorn, however, sought a larger space where a
more memorable structure could be built to house his legacy. They selected a
site contained the Army Medical Museum, built in the 1880s by the War Department to house the Office of the
Surgeon General’s museum, library, and archive. Debates ensued between the Smithsonian
and other government agencies, including the Department of Defense (which
supported the plan), the National Park Service (which designated the building a
historic landmark), and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (which operated the
museum). They grappled old and competing visions for the National Mall. Because
the collections, rather than the building itself, was deemed more historically
significant, the Smithsonian received congressional approval to build on this
site. The Army Medial Museum was demolished in 1969 and collections moved to
Walter Reed Medical Center. The Smithsonian hired Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill to design what he considered “a piece of sculpture on the Mall.” He created
a massive cylindrical structure raised fourteen feet off the ground on concrete
piers with an interior courtyard and fountain. In contrast to the museum’s
imposing concrete, the sculpture garden provided open air galleries and
artistic greenery. Furthermore, the Hirshhorn Museum design solidified the National
Mall’s shift from Neoclassical structures like the National Museum of Natural
History to modern architectural styles found in the National Museum of American
History and National Air and Space Museum. Some art critics appreciated the
round design, which created flow and softness, while others felt it was
unimpressive, raising questions about how much a museum building should embody
its collections. Construction began in 1969 and the museum opened in 1974.Symbolically, however,&nbsp;the museum represents the success of
immigrants in America. Hirshhorn emigrated from Latvia when he was six years
old. During the inauguration of the museum, Hirshhorn said, “It is an honor to
have given my art collection to the people of the United States as a small
repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived
here as immigrants. What I accomplished in the United States I could not have
accomplished anywhere else in the world.”The Hirshhorn Museum welcomed a million visitors in its first
six months. Since then, the Hirshhorn has transformed and adapted over the
years, keeping up with the times and consistently providing its patrons with
fresh exhibits and the latest artists and projects of the modern-art world. The
museum has grown its exhibition spaces to incorporate more immersive
experiences. New acquisitions include Yoko Ono’s “Wish Tree for Washington DC,”
a permanent piece that has been in the Sculpture Garden since 2007. This piece
was installed as part of her&nbsp;Imagine
Peace&nbsp;billboard project.
Since 2007, the Hirshhorn has hosted After Hours parties three times per year.
In 2009, the museum’s After Hours initiative began collaborating with the Pink
Line Project, which promotes creativity in the Washington DC area. One of their
main missions is to get both visitors to and residents of the DC area to see it
as a creative hub as well as a center for institutions and politics. In 2010,
the Hirshhorn created ARTLAB+, a digital arts studio that offers free after-school
programs for teenagers. The Sculpture Garden was renovated in the 1990s and usually
exhibits about fifty pieces at a time, which are moved or replaced four to five
times per year.&nbsp;

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a modern art museum that opened in 1974 and was established by an Act of Congress in 1966. With an indoor space of 60,000 square feet to house exhibitions and almost four acres making up its two-level sculpture garden, it is one of the nation’s largest modern art museums. The site where it was built was originally the Army Medical Museum and Library. The idea for an art museum on the National Mall began as early as the thirties, but the project was postponed due to the Second World War. It is named for entrepreneur and financier Joseph H. Hirshhorn, who donated his priceless art collections to the Smithsonian.

Human and Natural Landscapes of the Capital Region

Constitutional Gardens Pond and Memorial to the Signers of the Declaration

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information