The Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum is an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

of , located at 101 Ferry Road,

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States, as well as the county seat. The population of Bristol was 22,493 at the 2020 census. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. Major industries include boat buil ...

, midway between

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

and

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, on Bristol Harbor with views over

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. S ...

. It includes a mansion, with a lawn and over 300

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of woody plants in its arboretum and gardens, including both native and exotic species. The Mansion and its grounds were established in the 1890s by Augustus and Bessie Van Wickle as their summer retreat. Augustus Van Wickle was from

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second-most populous city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on ...

, with a fortune in the coal-mining business and a donor of the

Van Wickle Gates The Van Wickle Gates form the ornamental entrance to Brown University's main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. The gates stand at the intersection of College Street and Prospect Street at the crest of College Hill. Dedicated on June 18, 1901, t ...

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Mansion

The mansion was built in Queen Anne style in 1895, then rebuilt in 1906 as Blithewold II after being destroyed by fire. The slow-moving fire within the walls could not be extinguished, but much of the furnishings and other objects were able to be removed from the house. Blithewold II was designed in English Country Manor style by Walter Kilham of Kilham & Hopkins, Boston. In 1936 Marjorie Van Wickle Lyon inherited Blithewold, where she lived until her death in 1976 at the age of 93. By her bequest, ownership of Blithewold passed to the Heritage Foundation of Rhode Island (later known as the Heritage Trust of Rhode Island). Since 1978 the house has been open as a public museum, restored to its appearance circa 1910, with an extensive collection of the Van Wickle's personal possessions, including furniture, decorative arts, letters and other writings, Marjorie's original watercolors, and an extensive collection and display of women's dresses and other costumes of the period.

Grounds

Today's grounds are primarily the design of John DeWolf, and date between 1896 and 1913. The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1980. Blithewold's grounds include species from North America, Europe, China and Japan. Specimen trees include

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

(''Magnolia'' spp.), linden (''Tilia'' spp.),

Ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...

(''Ginkgo biloba''), Black Tupelo (''Nyssa sylvatica''),

Dawn Redwood ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus ''Metasequoia'', one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now ...

(''Metasequoia glyptostroboides''),

Franklinia ''Franklinia'' is a monotypic genus in the tea family, Theaceae. The sole species in this genus is a flowering tree, ''Franklinia alatamaha'', commonly called Franklinias or the Franklin tree, and native to the Altamaha River valley in Georgia i ...

(''Franklinia alatamaha''),

Eastern Hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

(''Tsuga canadensis''), various

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s (''Quercus'' spp.) and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

es (''Fagus'' spp.). Other notable trees include a weeping

Pagoda Tree ''Styphnolobium japonicum'', the Japanese pagoda tree (also known as the Chinese scholar tree and pagoda tree; syn. ''Sophora japonica'') is a species of deciduous tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It was formerly incl ...

(''Styphnolobium japonicum'' 'Pendula'), Hiba (''Thujopsis dolabrata''), Katsura (''Cercidiphyllum japonicum''), and

Sugi ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' L.f.). It is considered to be endemic to Japan ...

(''Cryptomeria japonica''). The grounds also include English Yews (''Taxus baccata'') and

Eastern Juniper ''Juniperus virginiana'', also known as eastern redcedar, red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico an ...

s (''Juniperus virginiana''), as well as what is claimed to be the largest

Giant Sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia) is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the la ...

(''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') on the East Coast, and currently about tall. The Sequoia was planted ca. 1930. Blithewold is home to at least two Rhode Island Champion Trees, including a Sargent’s Weeping Hemlock (''Tsuga canadensis ‘Sargentii’'', planted ca. 1920) and a Silver Fir (''Abies alba'', planted ca. 1911). Blithewold's Bamboo Grove covers an area nearly the size of a tennis court, and is planted with ''

Phyllostachys ''Phyllostachys'' ( is a genus of Asian bamboo in the grass family. Many of the species are found in central and southern China, with a few species in northern Indochina and in the Himalayas. Some of the species have become naturalized in part ...

aureosulcata'', the Yellow-groove

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

, which grows to tall. Blithewold has maintained contacts with the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

ever since 1926, when staff botanists visited Blithewold to see the Chinese toon tree (''

Toona ''Toona'', commonly known as red cedar, toon (also spelled tun) or toona, tooni (in Nepal and India) is a genus in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, native from Afghanistan south to India, and east to North Korea, Papua New Guinea and eastern Austr ...

sinensis'') in flower for what was believed to be the first time in the United States.

References

External links

Blithewold Mansion official site
{{Authority control 1895 establishments in Rhode Island Arboreta in Rhode Island

Botanical gardens in Rhode Island {{Commons cat, Botanical gardens in Rhode Island Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the A ...

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Historic house museums in Rhode Island Museums in Bristol County, Rhode Island Protected areas of Bristol County, Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Bristol, Rhode Island Houses in Bristol County, Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Rhode Island

Mansion

Grounds

See also

References

External links