Jun 15, 2016 4 min read

”No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.”

- Thomas Jefferson

John White Sr. owned a tract of land conveyed to him in 1789 by William Wallace. That tract of land, which rests in what is now known as Chartiers Township, makes up a portion of the Washington County fairgrounds. The house had its original stone portion constructed in 1806 for John White Jr., who, with his family, operated a grist mill on Chartiers Creek. The brick portion of the house was added in 1860. The homestead and accompanying buildings supported the production of “John White Super-Fine” flour.

The house was believed to be inhabited until approximately 1916, when it was acquired by the Washington County Agricultural Fair Association and used as the fair office. A restoration project began in the early 1990s after Albert Miller of Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life contacted Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation.

In the fall of 2014, the Penn State Extension Washington County Master Gardeners were searching for a place to start a demonstration garden. They had already established gardens throughout the Washington County fairgrounds, a children’s garden and composting complex across from one entrance, and were gardening with the residents at the Washington County Health Center across from the other entrance to the fairgrounds. An opportunity arose to resurrect the gardens at the John White House and, as they say, the rest is history – or, in this case, a historical garden.

The master gardeners spent that winter researching and compiling ideas about historical gardens and started planning. Ground was broken for the new/old garden in the spring of 2015.

Eagle Scout projects had laid out the bones of the garden: brick paths and a wooden fence. Phase 1 included a kitchen garden and a “taming of the tansy” project. The tansy weed found there, historically, “belonged” in the garden but was so ferociously aggressive it overgrew even the dandelions. In spite of the record rainfall that spring, gravel paths were laid out creating a triangular kitchen garden. Heirloom varieties of kale, pumpkins, tomatoes and peas were planted among the vegetables. Research had discovered that peas were Thomas Jefferson’s favorite vegetable, therefore a must for an 1800s historical garden in Washington County. Thyme, lavender, echinacea and horseradish were planted among the herbs. Many plants were donated; some were relocated from other garden locations tended by the master gardeners. Several seeds, including the variety of peas planted, were obtained from Monticello, where they take great care to plant several varieties of the same plants Thomas Jefferson himself planted.

By the time the fair rolled around, the resurrection of the historical garden had begun to take shape. During the fall and winter of 2015, more plans were made – a brainstorming meeting yielded enough ideas for several years to come. Near the top of the list was the new garden shed resembling, of all things, an outhouse. This year will see the addition of cutting gardens, a medicinal garden modeled after that which Dr. Francis Lemoyne would have planted and a dyeing garden.

Plans include adding more boxwoods and redbud trees. George Washington reported in his journal about the beauty of the redbud tree and transplanted numerous seedlings from the nearby forests to his own garden. For George Washington, the redbud signaled winter had passed and spring had begun.

The historical garden project has begun at the John White House. Please stop by and visit the master gardeners and the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation at the house during the Washington County Fair this August. The gardens and house will be open all week.

Marianne Campbell has been a master gardener since 2010. Her obsession with gardening is genetic: Both of her grandmothers taught her from a young age. “I cherished that time with them even when I was young, and have several of their plants in my own yard.”

n Have a question? In Washington County, call the master gardeners office at 724-228-6881. Follow us on Facebook. Also consult the Penn State Extension website: http://extension.psu.edu/plants/master-gardener/counties/washington/ for additional information.