News & Events
Slides Transport Viewers to Glorious Gardens of the 1930s “The slides are incredible and really do transport you back in time to the ‘30s, when gardening was a way of life for many people,” said Nigel Manley, longtime manager of The Rocks, who will share the slideshow July 19th at 7 p.m. at the TheRocks Estate in a presentation sponsored by The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and WREN. Manley and Bouchard will show copies of Glessner’s original hand-colored slides of gardens of some of the members of the White Mountain Garden Club, along with letters from the garden club ladies. These letters portray not only the gardens but also the social climate of that era. The eloquent letters are a joy to read and show a style of writing that has been forgotten. The antique quality of the slides will delight both gardeners and local historians by transporting viewers to an era when gardens were treasured escapes of their owners. As wealthy families transformed hill farms into grand estates, the ladies took over the design and creation of lavish gardens. “At this time period grand estate building was at its peak. The rich spent the year moving from the summer place to the country retreat to the city house. Contact with nature was considered beneficial for everyone and making a garden was a socially valuable act if not actually a public duty,” according to the Smithsonian Magazine. “Women even became landscape architects and writers of garden books without risk of social censure” This slideshow features many local homes, including the Adair Inn and The Rocks Estate in The charge for the program is $5. ####