COLONEL BENJAMIN STEPHENSON HOUSE

Historic Gardens

 Gardens at the Stephenson House 2013

The Gardens at Historic Stephenson House contain a number of special spaces: The Historic Teaching Garden features heirloom vegetables and flowers of the 1820’s. In addition to the teaching garden, a small fruit orchard, a colonial style rose garden, an herb garden, a shade garden, a grape fence and a woodland garden have all been reconstructed to appear as they might have been in the period when Colonel Benjamin Stephenson and his family occupied the property.

The gardens are maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers from the Madison-St. Clair Unit of the University of Illinois Master Gardener Program and from community volunteers.The gardeners at Stephenson House have a work day every Wednesday morning from May-October. They do garden maintenance, watering, planting and planning. They use modern equipment and methods but use heirloom plants where feasible. Some plant material is newer cultivars of old varieties if older ones are no longer available in the nursery trade. The volunteers wear contemporary gardening clothes and work on a day when the house is not open to the public so as not to distract from the authenticity that is required on open days. There are usually 5-7 volunteers every week with many coming back every year.