Blithewold's Gardens: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Full Bloom

Bessie Van Wickle McKee’s, landscape architect John DeWolf’s, and Marjorie Lyon’s visions for the 33-acre estate come to life in the form of gardens, plantings, pathways, lawns, and stone structures, all largely still intact from their inception.

Blithewold’s 33-acre gardens are among the most complete and intact examples of early 20th century American landscape design anywhere in New England. Laid out in the Arts and Crafts tradition by Bristol landscape architect John DeWolf in the late 1890s, the grounds have been lovingly maintained and thoughtfully evolved by generations of horticulturists — and today they remain one of Rhode Island’s most spectacular places to visit.

Walking the grounds at Blithewold is to move through a series of distinct garden rooms, each with its own character, history, and seasonal highlights. The Great Lawn — ten acres of open, sweeping grass with views of Narragansett Bay — anchors the whole estate and provides the kind of breathing space that larger botanical gardens often lack. Everything else radiates outward from it: intimate formal gardens, wild naturalistic plantings, ancient specimen trees, and quiet corners designed for repose as much as beauty.

Historical Roots

The Van Wickles placed great emphasis on the landscape, particularly Bessie, who was an avid gardener. They hired Bristol author, gardener and landscape architect, John DeWolf to lay out the grounds. DeWolf based his over-arching concept for the site on the dirt roads, stone walls, and gentle pastures of the existing vernacular landscape features, as well as the dramatic waterfront site. His design reflects a widespread interest in America’s 17th and 18th century heritage that manifested itself in both the Colonial Revival and the American Arts and Crafts movements. It harmoniously integrates multiple design typologies to create varied garden spaces that are unified by the Great Lawn and framed by mature specimen trees and shrubs.

Blithewold’s landscape embraces active recreation and quiet repose, integrating indoor-outdoor living spaces in a way that anticipates a more casual 20th century lifestyle. The dock complex, tennis courts, and former golf clubhouse reflect Augustus Van Wickle and his passion for sports. Photos, descriptions, and home movies—as well as kayaks and croquet sets—that remain in the collections, demonstrate the active lifestyle of his two daughters and a turn-of-the-century feminist spirit.

Today's Gardens

When walking the grounds today, you will notice a combination of historic and contemporary gardening. The 10-acre Great Lawn, Enclosed Garden, Orchard, and Cutting and Vegetable Gardens were laid out in the late 1890s. Bessie ordered the construction of the Lord and Burnham Greenhouses in 1901 to further her botanical collection. The Bosquet, Rose, and Water Gardens were created in the early 1900s, followed by the North Garden in 1911, and the Rock Garden in the 1920s.

The Cutting Garden has since been renamed the Idea Garden, and Blithewold's talented horticultural staff has also added a Pollinator Garden, a small Nursery, and a re-designed Vegetable Garden to the property. The gardens present an inspirational and invigorating marriage of formal and naturalistic landscape elements, ranging from poetic to practical, reflecting the Van Wickle family's love of nature and ornamental horticulture.

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The Gardens

Rose Garden

The Rose Garden, planted ca.1900, reflects a popular trend among large estates during the early 1900s. Bessie and John DeWolf's design features a variety of showy climbing and shrub roses, the centenarian Chestnut Rose (it is possible that the rose is from George Washington's Mt. Vernon estate), and the Asian-inspired Moongate.

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North Garden

The North Garden was formerly referred to as the Sunken Garden, until a stone North Star (rescued from a chimney in the original mansion after the fire) was installed in the garden wall. The family viewed the most formal of the Blithewold gardens––featuring lush, deep borders; ornamental stonework; a fountain; a garden pool; and lawn––as an extension of the mansion. Today it showcases a variety of perennials, annuals, and flowering shrubs. The North Garden is the ideal setting for weddings and other social functions.

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Idea Garden

Once a cutting garden and orchard, the Idea Garden now teams several smaller gardens: the Cutting Garden, the Herb Garden, the Troughery, the Checkerboard Garden, and areas for sun and shade loving plants.

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Rock Garden

Bessie's favorite, the Rock Garden, which she called Little Mt. Hope, sits within yards of the Bay and features a raised area of rocks, charming small- scale plantings, and evergreen trees and shrubs to provide shelter from the wind.

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Water Garden

The water lily-filled pond serves as the centerpiece for this garden. The arched stone bridge, small island with its iron lantern, and Asian-inspired landscape elements, such as the Japanese Maple plantings, are also central to the area.

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Pollinator Garden

Blithewold's garden staff planted this garden with native honey bees, butterflies, and other insects in mind, filling it with pollinator-friendly coneflowers, thistles, summer phlox, and golden-rod.

Vegetable Garden

Although no longer plowed by a team of horses, the Vegetable Garden still produces an abundance of crops each summer. The garden donates over 1,000 pounds of produce to the East Bay Food Pantry each season, and Blithewold's summer campers visit the garden each week to have fun while learning about gardening and harvesting their own vegetables. The garden also provides for Blithewold’s dedicated staff and volunteers.

Lord and Burnham Greenhouses

(restored and rebuilt in 2005 and 2015)

Blithewold's door to a more exotic climate, the Lord and Burnham Greenhouses feature a botanical mix of tropical plants and less hardy varieties of familiar garden mainstays. In late winter, the staff and volunteers start seeds and cuttings, which will eventually take root in gardens all over the property.

Other Notable Areas

Lovers' Lane

A mainstay of the property pre-dating the 18th century, Lovers' Lane provided the Van Wickles with access to the Bay and their beach, the bathhouses, and the original dock, which were destroyed by the 1938 hurricane.

Bamboo Grove

Planted in the 1930's. Contained by mowing during active growth.

Explore our map of the Mansion and Grounds.

The Blithewold grounds map covers all of our gardens, as well as notable buildings. Other things you can find are the locations of bathrooms, benches, and the path material. Located bellow is a simplified version of our map. Download a PDF copy of the map by clicking the map below:

Beyond the individual gardens, Blithewold is an arboretum of national significance. The property is home to an extraordinary collection of specimen trees, many of them rare or historically significant. The giant sequoia on the south lawn — believed to be the largest of its species in the eastern United States — stops virtually every visitor in their tracks. The weeping beech, the Franklin tree (extinct in the wild since 1803), and the bamboo grove planted in the 1930s are among the many other trees that make Blithewold’s grounds unique in New England.

The gardens reward visitors every season. Spring brings Daffodil Days — 150,000 blooms across 100 varieties from late March through early May — followed by tulips, poppies, and the full unfurling of the perennial borders. Summer is lush and abundant, with the rose garden, the cutting garden, and the greenhouse container collection all at their peak. Fall brings the fiery color of specimen trees and the late-season interest of grasses and seed heads. And winter reveals the architectural bones of the landscape — the stone walls, the specimen trees, and the quiet geometry of formal gardens.