Are you a gardener who happens to be a history buff? Do you want to learn more about Gainesville’s past and the part horticulture played in it?
If this description fits you, we urge you to visit and volunteer at the Longstreet 1875 Heritage Landscape that surrounds the historic Piedmont Hotel at 827 Maple Street south of downtown Gainesville. The site is home to the Longstreet Society, dedicated to studying and celebrating the life of Lt. General James Longstreet, Commander of the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee, who called him “my old war horse.”
In 1875 James Longstreet moved his family to Gainesville and opened the Piedmont Resort and Spa. He hosted guests, colleagues, and acquaintances from North and South in his work to ease tensions of the Reconstruction period after the Civil War.
The portion of the site that remains today is being reconstructed in the style of southern horticulture of the period that was replacing the predominantly cotton and corn agriculture in the mid-1800s. Reconstructing the landscape with ornamental plants of the period listed in catalogs of the Fruitland Nursery, Longstreet 1875 Heritage Landscape is arguably the most historically significant garden in Hall County.
Longstreet was part of the movement toward horticulture, not just cotton and corn agriculture, in the post-Civil War South. The Piedmont Hotel was a lively hub of North Georgia society for over twenty years. After a long decline, the building was rediscovered in 1994. Longstreet Society board member and local garden club leader Margery Johnson launched the project by researching horticulture and hardscape design of the period.
Hall County Master Gardeners took on the community service project to reconstruct the period landscape in 2017.
Pictured are Janice Jones, Alice DiPrima, Jill Myers, Ila Santimauro, and JoAnne Allen
Longstreet 1875 Heritage Landscape features a collection of late 19th-century heritage and native plants in sections dedicated to Longstreet Society members who have funded the project: Liberty Garden, Angel Garden, Peace Garden, Brotherhood Garden, Homegrown National Park Model. Each section tells its story with particular plants, and the history of how the plant came to be part of the garden.
Master Gardener volunteers learn the history as they work among the heritage plants.
The Liberty Garden sits at the currently sun-drenched south end of the property. We are working to add shade. This
section features camellia japonica varieties imported from Japan and China between 1840 and 1900. A center area contains rosa rugosa, which, in addition to flowers, produces large rose hips for tea. The Liberty Garden honors the memories of Longstreet Society benefactors, the late Judge and Mrs. W. L. Norton.
The Angel Garden captures the spirit of strolling through paths of the four-acre forest that surrounded the resort with natives and exotics – the native silver maple (Acer saccharinum), wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), St. Andrew’s Cross (Hypericum hypericoides), and gardenia, banana shrub, and Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis). The Angel replica from the Gettysburg Cemetery overlooks the garden in honor of Longstreet Society founding member, Ronald E. Hollis and his late wife Jamie Martin Hollis.
The Peace Garden honors General Longstreet’s quest for national peace and unity. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Longstreet was quoted in the New York Herald: “On the eve of battle with a foreign foe, I would say to the children, love one another.” Pavers in the Peace Garden record Longstreet’s commands in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. Magnolia, azaleas, gardenia, and roses are among the plants Longstreet’s granddaughter, Jamie Longstreet Patterson enjoyed when she lived in the extant remnant of the Piedmont Hotel in her last years.
The Brotherhood Garden, tucked into a narrow plot on the Maple Street side of the building, honors founders of the Longstreet Society and charter members who saved the last remaining portion of Longstreet’s once thriving north Georgia resort and spa. Confederate Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) planted by Margery Johnson
over two decades ago continues to span the fence and survive drastic freezes. Rose of Sharon Althea was rescued from Longstreet’s farm site by Hall County Master Gardener Marsha Hopkins. Forsythia varietal and winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiforum) were sold by the late 1800s Fruitlands Nursery to Milledgeville Hospital for its landscape. Later, they were transplanted to White County, and finally moved to the Longstreet landscape, where they grow alongside cemetery iris (Iris albicans).
The Homegrown National Park plant collection features all natives of the area in memory of Jorene Pilcher, assistant to Judge Norton and stalwart steward of Longstreet Society.
Two varieties of grapes are cultivated on the site; Muscadine, a wild native, and Catawba, an American grape from before the Civil War. General Longstreet grew grapes, among other crops, at his 120-acre farm near what is now Gainesville’s Longstreet Circle. He made jelly from his grapes, and perhaps wine, to serve to hotel guests.
So much more work and research are needed to understand fully the history of the Longstreet 1875 Heritage Landscape. Will you join the hardy band of Hall County Master Gardeners and other volunteers working to reconstruct this historic landscape?
The work of reconstruction continues. We need many hands to bring the site to its full potential. Generally, we work on Tuesdays from 10:00 am to 12 noon, weather permitting, and projects to tackle. In warmer weather, we start earlier. We send reminder notices to all volunteers regarding workdays.
Contact Margaret Rasmussen, Hall County Master Gardener Coordinator for the site and Longstreet Society Board Member, by email redbudproject@gmail.com or phone 678-989-1813 to sign up or ask questions.
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