Why have I never been to the Blithewold mansion and gardens before last week? It is seriously GORGEOUS and just around the corner (in Rhode Island) from our offices in Connecticut. I stumbled upon their beautiful website a few weeks earlier and thought there was potential for some nice photographs. As it turned out I didn’t have enough time (several hours) to take in everything the grounds had to offer. It’s HUGE–with everything from a formal perennial border to a well-established rock garden.
And just when I thought I’d seen it all, I rounded the corner and was faced with the trunk of a Giant Redwood–the largest I’d seen outside of Redwood National Forest. Apparently John DeWolfe, the landscape architect for Blithewold, planted the tree on the grounds in 1911. Mr. DeWolfe was the superintendent of Prospect Park in NYC at the time and had been growing the tree in a greenhouse there until it outgrew its location. He decided to relocate the tree and shipped it by rail to Rhode Island. Now, 98 years later, the “Big Tree” is the tallest giant redwood east of the Rocky Mountains. If you’re in the area, definitely make time to visit this jewel.

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