An archival restoration of the horticultural and design elements of Barnsley Gardens, Georgia

Woodlands, a 1475 ha estate in the northwest mountains of Georgia, was the home of Godfrey Barnsley, a wealthy cotton factor from Savannah. A man of considerable business acumen and architectural skill, he fashioned his manor house in the Italianate style of Calvert Vauxʹs Villas and Cottages (1857), while the design of his estate grounds was influenced by renowned 19th century landscape gardener and writer Andrew Jackson Downing and his Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1841). Following the Civil War and Barnsleyʹs death in 1873, the house and gardens at Woodlands (or Barnsley Gardens, as it had become known) were neglected and fell into disrepair. I conducted research of the original correspondence and manuscripts of Godfrey Barnsley to reconstruct the development of the gardens and process the extent of Barnsleyʹs involvement; to compile evidence to aid in a historically accurate restoration of the property, including a list of the original plants at Woodlands; and determine any influence of Downing on Godfrey Barnsley and Woodlands. A clearer time line of the conception and construction of the gardens resulted from this research. In addition, I compiled a list of nearly 600 fruit trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, flowers and roses ordered by Barnsley for Woodlands. Barnsley had in his library books by Downing and Vaux, and made numerous references to Downing in his gardening theories in his correspondence. Barnsleyʹs caretaker, John Connolly, also referred to Downing in his correspondence. A team of horticulturists and landscape architects used this research in February 1996 during the first phase of the restoration of the grounds.