Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 65, originally released in print form in 2022. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All photographs contained in this journal unless otherwise noted are copyrighted by the White House Historical Association and may not be reproduced without permission. Requests for reprint permissions should be directed to rights@whha.org. Contact books@whha.org for more information. © 2022 White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.
FOREWORD A Beautiful Spot, Capable of Every Improvement “MY DEAR CHILD, I arrived here on Sunday last,” reported First Lady Abigail Adams to her daughter Abigail Smith in a letter written November 21, 1800, a few days after she settled in the newly established City of Washington. Describing the site of her new home, the barely finished President’s House, she continued, “It is a beautiful spot, capable of every improvement, and, the more I view it, the more I am delighted with it.” The grounds surrounding the house were in fact yet to be landscaped and remained a muddy construction site, strewn with the debris of nearly a decade of excavation, carpentry, stone carving, and brick making. Incredibly, the first first lady to make the President’s House her home saw only the promise of the future in the bleak scene she encountered, and with this issue of the Quarterly we offer a glimpse at a few of the many ways her inspiring vision has been fulfilled. We open with an interview with Superintendent of the White House Grounds Dale Haney, whose life’s work has been devoted to caring for the historic site. His reminder that “every president has walked these grounds,” is a sentiment we quote to title this issue. Overseeing the care of five hundred trees, five thousand shrubs, thousands of annual flowers, a productive kitchen garden, and acres of manicured lawns, Dale Haney has seen the Grounds through a half-century of growth and has witnessed many of the improvements Mrs. Adams predicted. Not all transformations are permanent, however, and as this issue goes to press Dale is preparing for the 2022 Easter Egg Roll, when thousands of children will fill the South Grounds to enjoy a day of fun. And Heath Hardage Lee takes us back to 1972, to share the story of another historic, yet fleeting, transformation, when the Rose Garden was filled with thousands of
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white flowers for the June wedding of Tricia Nixon to Edward Cox. During the interview, Dale Haney emphasizes that for fifty years his work has been guided by the Olmsted Plan. Landscape historian Elizabeth Hope Cushing details the story of that plan with the Quarterly, explaining how Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. came to create his 1935 Report to the President of the United States on Improvements and Policy of Maintenance for the Executive Mansion Grounds for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The preservation of historic trees, the placement of new trees, the privacy the landscape now affords the first family, and the iconic vistas enjoyed by the public can be credited to Olmsted’s concepts. As a member of the White House press corps, photojournalist Christy Bowe has documented history unfold during five presidencies. With the president’s garden among the most beautiful of the backdrops in her portfolio, she shares an album of her work with the Quarterly. An example of a way in which the beauty of the White House gardens inspires growers beyond the White House fence is offered by Arthur Chadwick, who details the collection of hybrid orchids named for the first ladies. Historian Matt Costello provides an account of a legendary oak tree planted by President Theodore Roosevelt on the White House Grounds in 1904. The sapling, reputed to be descended from a venerable tree near George Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon, soon perished but was not forgotten. Finally, Katherine Malone-France takes us back to a spring day in 1973 when First Lady Pat Nixon visited the garden at the historic Stephen Decatur House on Lafayette Square. Like the President’s House, its garden continues to provide a stage for gatherings of many kinds, and it welcomes brides each spring.
marcia mallet anderson editor, WHITE HOUSE HISTORY QUARTERLY
4/27/22 9:19 AM
BRUCE WHITE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE HISTORIC AL ASSOC IATION
A beautiful spot on the White House Grounds embellished with improvements made over the course of 222 years, as First Lady Abigail Adams imagined when she surveyed the raw landscape surrounding her new home in 1800.
white house history quarterly
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