""The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg" features twenty gardens in Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area. Stunning photography complements the text and detailed garden plans identify the plantings in each garden. Experience the sights, colors, and textures found in Colonial Williamsburg's gardens each season of the year."--Book jacket.

A Colonial Williamsburg garden historian outlines traditional methods for planting and tending 50 different kinds of vegetables, profiling such 18th-century utilities as shelter paper and fermented manure while sharing complementary weather-watching guidelines, organic techniques and seed-saving advice.

In Creating Colonial Williamsburg, Anders Greenspan examines the restoration and re-creation of the structures and gardens of Virginia's colonial capital beginning in 1926. The restoration was undertaken by the Rockefeller family, whose aim was to promote a twentieth-century appreciation for eighteenth-century ideals. Ironically, those ideals, including democracy, individualism, and representative government, were often promoted at the expense of a more complete understanding of the town's true history. The meaning and purpose of Colonial Williamsburg has changed over time, along with America's changing social and political landscapes, making the study of this historic site a unique and meaningful entry point to understanding the shifting modern American character. In recent years, financial struggles and declining attendance forced a new interpretation of the town, extending the presentation into the period of the American Revolution, while adding new interpretive approaches such as street theater and a greater emphasis on technology. Over its eighty-year history, says Greenspan, Colonial Williamsburg has grown and matured, while still retaining its emphasis on the importance of eighteenth-century values and their application in the modern world.

Offers a guide to over 200 species of trees, flowers, and herbs from colonial Williamsburg

The personal garden book and garden calendar of Joseph Prentis, an attorney in Williamsburg, Virginia. Prentis's garden directions and advice provide us with an interesting and useful garden record. These manuscripts from eighteenth-century tidewater Virginia are a welcome addition to kitchen garden literature.

A unique edition of three gardening manuals, Directions for the Gardiner, the Kalendarium Hortense, a monthly guide to the gardening year, and Acetaria, on salad crops and their preparation for the table, this book offers a glimpse into our gardening past and is a charming companion for garden lovers everywhere.