The Linnaean Botanic Garden or Prince's Nursery was a nursery and gardens in

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started in the mid-18th century by the Prince family.The New-York Annual Register for 1833
p. 239 (1833)(24 July 1822)
Enchanting Garden
''Adams Centinel'' The establishment was one of the first commercial nurseries in the country, and was in operation about 130 years until the property was sold after 1869.(22 April 2004)
Discovering history at Flushing's Botanical Garden
''QNS''

History

Robert Prince and his son William started the Prince family nursery in the 1730s (with 1737 an often cited date)Totemeier, Carl (20 February 1977)

''

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'' on eight acres. It soon was the biggest provider of fruit trees and grapes in the colonies.Encounters with America's Premier Nursery and Botanic Garden
Monticello.org This first William Prince was the first to cultivate pecan trees for sale, starting in 1772.
Smithsonian Libraries, Retrieved 30 June 2022 An advertisement running on September 21, 1767 stated:

For sale at William Prince's nursery, Flushing, a great variety of fruit trees, such as apple, plum, peach, nectarine, cherry, apricot and pear. They may be put up so as to be sent to Europe. Capt. Jeremiah Mitchell and Daniel Clements go to New York in packet boats Tuesdays and Fridays

Though Long Island came under British rule during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the British protected it due to the value of the operation. Around 1793, William Prince (grandson of Robert and son of William) added to the family acreage and renamed this tract as the Linnaean Botanic Garden and Nursery, named after

Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

, who formalised

binomial nomenclature In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

, the modern system of naming organisms. This William's brother, Benjamin, called the original family nursery plot "The Old American Nursery." The second William's son William Robert Prince was the fourth and last Prince generation to run the gardens. When he died in 1869 the nursery shut down, though many of their unusual plants lived much longer. The first four Presidents of the United States all visited the establishment.

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

first visited the nursery in October 1789 with

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, when the United States capital was still in New York City. Washington wasn't impressed on his first visit, but his opinion bettered over time.(10 October 1789).
George Washington Diary Entry
National Archives ("These Gardens except in the number of young fruit Trees did not answer my expectations—The shrubs were trifling and the flowers not numerous. The Inhabitants of this place shewed us what respect they could, by making the best use of one Cannon to salute.")

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

and

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...

visited in 1791, with Jefferson placing a large order for his home at

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

. Prince Street in Flushing is named for the Prince family; the gardens were in the vicinity of that street and Broadway/Bridge Street (now

Northern Boulevard New York State Route 25A (NY 25A) is a state highway on Long Island in New York, United States. It serves as the main east–west route for most of the North Shore of Long Island, running for from Interstate 495 (I-495) at the ...

).Driscoll, James
Flushing: 1880-1935
(2005), p. 17-21 (discussing the nursery), p. 27 (noting that Northern Boulevard was originally called Broadway, with the section west of Main Street becoming known as Bridge Street after William Prince built a bridge over

Flushing Creek The Flushing River, also known as Flushing Creek, is a waterway that flows northward through the borough of Queens in New York City, mostly within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, emptying into the Flushing Bay and the East River. The river runs ...

in 1800)Fox, Marglit and George Robinson (17 August 2003)
Pedigree in Pruning
''

'' (says location was south of Northern Blvd, but that seems to apply to one some of the property prior to expansion)

References

External links

Catalogue of American indigenous trees, plants, and seeds, cultivated and for sale at the Linnaean botanic garden, Flushing, Long Island, near New York
(1820) {{Coord, 40, 45, 54, N, 73, 50, 00, W, display=title Botanical gardens in New York City 1869 disestablishments in New York (state)