{"id":105448,"date":"2025-11-21T19:54:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=105448"},"modified":"2025-11-21T20:55:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T20:55:41","slug":"colonial-gardens-around-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/colonial-gardens-around-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Colonial gardens around us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 21, 2025 \u2013 As Rhode Islanders head to dining tables this month to celebrate the year\u2019s ceremonial harvest, local Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners say that community gardens offer understanding of state history, not only for Thanksgiving, but also as the state heads toward next year\u2019s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This July, the historic gardens at Smith\u2019s Castle in North Kingstown, operated by the Cocumscussoc Association, joined 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardeners\u2019 \u201cGardening with the Masters<\/a>\u201d tour and offered other tours as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nestled among cattails, Cocumscussoc is part of the ancestral homeland of the Narragansett People. Smith\u2019s Castle, built in 1678, is the oldest surviving plantation house in America and the gardens found there demonstrate practices followed by early gardeners which can still be applied today; the site has been designated a National Historic Landmark.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Local community gardens offer understanding of ways that people lived in Rhode Island in the past. (溏心vlog免费B站 Photo \/ Cooperative Extension)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Built in 1678, Smith\u2019s Castle is one of the longest standing Master Gardener partnerships in the state and offers perspective on the food found on New England tables in the 1600s. Ann Casey \u201969, a trustee of Smith\u2019s Castle, and a 溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardener \u201904, says that the Smith\u2019s Castle gardens give visitors an expanded sense of Rhode Island history, and demonstrate the importance of the land in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Narragansett had their summer encampments here,\u201d says Casey. \u201cThey farmed, fished, hunted and foraged, providing their people with a bountiful food supply, medicinal remedies, tools, weapons, shelter material and more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站 Master Gardeners have restored and continue to tend the site\u2019s historic gardens in an effort to help educate visitors about Rhode Island history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Master Gardeners use the gardens to educate visitors about practices of these historic gardeners which are still very valid,\u201d says Casey. \u201cMany of these practices also illustrate modern science-backed methods which benefit both gardeners and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners at Smith\u2019s Castle maintain gardens that reflect changing styles over time, demonstrating how gardens can be both beautiful and beneficial. (Photo Ann Casey)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At today\u2019s Smith\u2019s Castle, visitors can see the Three Sisters Garden which showcases a planting scheme used by many Indigenous tribes: \u201cCorn, beans and squash are planted together in a great example of biodiversity,\u201d says Casey. \u201cAll three plants benefit from each other, increasing yields for a healthy diet, and providing long-term soil fertility. The three vegetables complement each other nutritionally and, cooked together with meat, provide a completely balanced diet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She notes there is much that contemporary gardeners can learn from Indigenous gardeners, such as mounding soil rather than tilling it to avoid erosion and maintain healthy soil, companion planting, seed saving, and observing nature for signs when to plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The castle also includes an early colonial herb garden, which was both farm and pharmacy for all who lived on the property at that time, and a Georgian-style garden reflecting the increasing wealth and status of the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarly colonists needed to be very self-sufficient,\u201d Casey comments. \u201cThe housewife, in particular, was responsible for growing many of the plants needed to feed her family, minister to any illness, and provide household necessities. She learned about beneficial native plants, growing them in the vegetable garden just outside the kitchen for her family, and also the larger community.\u00a0 Even the Georgian garden would include the necessary plants as well as those planted just for their beauty”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Colonial gardening practices that can be followed and implemented today include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n