Subject
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03A.
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Postcards - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
Recto of an official Colonial Williamsburg postcard illustrated with a view looking down from the Governor's Palace cupola on the formal garden behind the Ballroom Wing.
The card offers a view of the formal gardens behind the Governor's Palace, flanking one side of the Ballroom Wing. These gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens. Near the top of the photo, a pleached hornbeam arbor is visible to the left. Just beyond the arbor is a small structure built into the garden wall that served as a privy (necessary).
The caption reads: "In 1724, the Reverend Hugh Jones wrote of the Governor's Palace 'a magnificent Structure, built at the public Expense, finished and beautified with Gates, fine Gardens, Offices, Walks, a fine Canal, Orchards &c.' The Palace, its dependencies, and gardens have been reconstructed to their original appearance."