Newport -- Beacon Hill

Correspondence written on verso, postmarked July 16, 1925. Postcard published by C.T. American Art.

Also known as Arthur Curtiss James Estate.

"There is an austere elegance about a green garden; pink or yellow or red are frivolous except as accents, but the garden that appeals to the romantic, universal soul is the blue garden. That is why the Blue Garden of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Curtiss James was the ultimate goal of so many Newport Pilgrims. A very stately garden it is with the iridescent quality which blue flowers that really are mauve and purple and grayish, rather than true, sharp blue, impart. Its irregular symmetry makes it difficult to describe without a ground plan. At the two far distant ends are colonnades with gray rocks and irregular green plantations beyond, and the lower end is a circle of matchless turf whose boundary is rock and shrubs. The upper part is a circle, too, formed by a rustic lattice of slender split branches over which grow Clematis Jackmanii, mauve Sweet-peas and other charming creepers, backed by Cedars and Pines. In the center are two pools fed by water that trickles from beneath the colonnade." "A thousand foot rose garden was blasted out of granite rock. A long grass allee originated by the reflecting pool, was planted with 5,000 roses of many varieties. The allee ascended several levels of stone walls and steps and climaxed under a high granite cliff, where a splendid stone and ironwork balustrade and imposing pergola were located. Mr. James died in 1942, all the roses were dug and sold and nature moved in to sow her seeds." After Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Curtiss James's deaths, the gardens, with their pergolas, pools, and walls, fell into disrepair, ravaged by time and invasive trees and shrubs. The estate was subdivided into 3.25-acre parcels in the 1970s, and sold by developers as single home sites—with the remnants of the Blue Garden on one of the sites. Through the generosity of Dorrance H. Hamilton, a Newport summer resident, philanthropist, and garden enthusiast, the Blue Garden was rescued from its demise and rebuilt in 2014. A team, led by Parker Construction, Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architects, and Arleyn A. Levee, Olmsted Historian, restored the garden to its former glory, using as reference original Olmsted plans, drawings, photographs, and correspondence from the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, the Library of Congress, the Archives of American Gardens, and the Redwood Library, among other repositories. As the name suggests, the Blue Garden incorporates a palette of blues early in the season and transitions to lavender blues and purples, with touches of white, as the summer progresses. Over 250 evergreen trees and flowering shrubs enclose the garden, and contribute to its designation as an arboretum. The Blue Garden is known today as a classic example of American landscape art and a triumph of historic preservation. The garden is open for tours on Thursdays from mid-June through early October. Photographs of the restoration and information are available at thebluegarden.org. Persons associated with the property include: Arthur Curtiss James (former owner, 1909-1940); Olmsted Brothers (landscape architects); John Greatorex (superintendent of grounds and landscape gardener); Harriet R. Foote (garden designer and rosarian); Peckham Brothers (contractors for rose garden); Hempstead of Boston (landscape contractors/superintendent); Edward Van Altena (lantern slide maker).