Tag: Frances Benjamin Johnston

The Sunday porch: Strawberry Hill

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My first “Sunday porch,” from August 2013. . .
Vintage Photo of Strawberry Hill, Forkland vic., Greene County, Alabama, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Strawberry Hill plantation, Greene County, Alabama, in 1939, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The front porch is often a box seat for the theater of the garden or the street.  This one seems to have half drawn its curtains against the buzzing, chirping action of the cottage garden below.

Strawberry Hill, 1936, HABS, Library of Congress
Strawberry Hill, November 1936, by Alex Bush, for HABS, via Library of Congress.

The mid-19th century house still exists, although without the vines and flowers.  Its surrounding land is now a cattle ranch.

Vintage landscape: the stage

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2 Piranhurst, California, 1917, F.B. Johnston, Library of CongressThe outdoor theater of the Piranhurst estate of Henry Ernest and Ellen Chabot Bothin, Montecito, California, 1917, hand-colored glass lantern slides by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

4 Piranhurst, California, 1917, F.B. Johnston, Library of Congress

The Bothin’s fortune was made in coffee and spices (San Francisco), real estate, and water. Their estate became famous in the 1920s for the parties and performances held in its 350-acre “Tea Gardens” — which included the clipped cypress theater shown here.

3 Piranhurst, California, 1917, F.B. Johnston, Library of Congress
Looking from the stage to the box seats.

Today, the site is in ruins and is part of the Mar Y Cel open space preserve.  There are histories of the property here and here.

1 Piranhurst, California, 1917, F.B. Johnston, Library of Congress
The backstage wings, a photo by F. B. Johnston, 1917, also via Library of Congress.

Vintage landscape: Fredericksburg, Virginia

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Mary Ball House, FB Johnston, Library of CongressMary Ball Washington house, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1927, a hand-colored glass lantern slide by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The house was the last home of George Washington’s mother.  It still exists and is open to the public.  The garden was restored in 1968 to reflect how it might have looked between 1772 and 1789.

Vintage landscape: balustrade

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Thornedale urn, F.B. Johnston, Library of CongressPond at the house entrance of “Thornedale,” Millbrook, New York, 1919, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (both photos).

Thornedale pond 2, F.B. Johnston, Library of CongressThe  house was built in 1849 and still exists.

Vintage landscape: Thornedale

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Thornedale, F.B. Johnston, Library of Congress

Sugar maple allée at “Thornedale,” Millbrook, New York, 1919, hand-colored glass lantern slide by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Helen Stafford Thorne is credited with the garden’s design. The estate still exists under family ownership.