Built in 1863 on land once owned by the heirs of Charles LaTour, the Governor of Acadie, The Willows now stands on the grounds of
Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, serving as offices and gift shop for the gardens.
A Top 5 North American Garden
Worth Travelling For!
The world class Historic Gardens is a 17 acre horticultural paradise located in historic Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, the first permanent European settlement in North America (1605).
Historically themed areas tell the story of Nova Scotia settlement from an agricultural and horticultural perspective, showcasing gardening methods, designs and materials representing more than four hundred years of local history.
For 4000 years, the Mi'kmaq have inhabited the land, using this area as a stopping place. The Pine Forest represents the huge eastern forests which once covered a vast area, long before Europeans settled in North America.
La Maison acadienne features the only archaeologically authenticated replica of a pre-deportation Acadian dwelling in the Maritime region. The potager is based on original diary notes from the Acadian era, while the orchard and willow hedge are heritage cultivars from the 17th Century. La Maison acadienne is based on a 1671 time period when Port-Royal (later Annapolis Royal) was the centre of Acadie.
The Governor's Garden presents a garden of herbs, flowers and heritage 18th Century apple trees arranged according to the traditions of the 1710 to 1749 period, when Annapolis Royal was the capital of Nova Scotia, then under British rule.
The Victorian Garden contains over 3,000 vibrantly colourful annuals. The selection of exotic and heritage plants, set in elegant symmetry, reflect Victorian tastes and the wealth of Annapolis Royal during "the age of sail."
The Innovative Garden demonstrates modern horticultural methods and is a model for visitors interested in how to design a compact and sustainable vegetable garden in an urban or suburban setting.
The historically based core gardens are linked by paths through many other display areas featuring plant collections, garden art, water features and natural areas. Connecting pathways look westward over dykelands, evocative of a way of life centuries ago.
One of the most magnificent of the collections, by any standards, is the Rose Collection which has more than 270 cultivars, from ancient roses like the Apothecary Rose through to modern hybrids including roses of the Canadian Explorer, Parkland and Artist series'. With thousands of colourful and fragrant blossoms, it is the largest rose collection in the Maritime region.
Within its relatively intimate confines, the Gardens contain an astonishing array of horticultural diversity, with carefully designed transitions between the rock garden, the hydrangea and daylily collections, the azaleas and rhododendrons, the perennial bed, the heather collection, the evergreen collection and ornamental grasses as well as spring and winter collections.
Then there are the trees - exotic specimens like the blossoming Paulownia (Chinese Empress), the iconic Laburnum Arbour, the fruit bearing PawPaw (unique in the Maritime region), living fossils such as the Dawn Redwood and Ginkgo Biloba, and the majestic weeping American Elm, a provincially designated heritage tree.
From the Historic Gardens
The Willows
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
The Willows was built in the Bracketted style in 1863. This building is located on the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens property and acts as the offices and gift shop for that organization as well as a residential rental property. The house sits well back from the street with a circular driveway and the Historic Garden's parking lot located in front. As the property is open to the public as a botanical garden, there is elaborate landscaping. Located on this property is also a reconstruction of a circa 1671 Acadian dwelling. The municipal designation covers both the buildings and the property.
HERITAGE VALUE
Historic Value
The Willows, as recognized by its municipal designation, is valued for its connection to historic personalities and its architecture. The lot where the house sits, originally part of a larger lot, was once owned by Jacques, Marguerite and Anne La Tour, the heirs of Charles LaTour the Governor of Acadie. When Jacques died his share of the ownership was transferred to his widow Anne Melanson who then married Alexandre Robichaud. It is the Robichauds who disputed the patent that local merchant John Adams received for this land in 1732. After he won the dispute, Adams sold his his portion of the property in November 1732 to Charles Vane, an ensign recently arrived at Fort Anne. By the 1780s, this land was used as a farm by Colonel Frederick Sinclair and his wife Mary.
In 1815, the property was acquired by Thomas Ritchie, a lawyer, future judge and the founder of an impressive family legal dynasty in Nova Scotia. A son, Sir William Johnstone Ritchie, would rise to the position of Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court. It was another son of Thomas Ritchie, Rev. James J. Ritchie, Rector of St. Lukes Anglican Church, who built the Willows in 1863. As time passed, two other clerics would be associated with the house. Rev. Henry How, also Rector of St Luke's, acquired the property in 1892 and Methodist clergyman Rev. Byron C. Borden owned the property in the 1920s.
Dr. F. Fraser Bond, a retired professor of journalism from Columbia University, owned this property in the 1950s. By the 1960s, the property came under the ownership of Dr. Gilles Brissette, a local dentist. Dr. Brissette operated his office from the building at this time. The property was purchased in 1980 by the Annapolis Royal Industrial Development Commission with the goal of designing a public garden. This project was part of a major effort to rejuvinate Annapolis Royal at this time. Today, the property is operated as the award winning Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens and attracts thousands of tourists every year.
Also located on this property is the Maison Acadienne, a reconstruction of a circa 1671 Acadian house built in 1982-1983. Using information discovered during the archaeological digs that took place at Belleisle, Nova Scotia in the 1980s, this house replicates the size, construction and decoration of a pre deportation Acadian dwelling.
Architectural Value
The Willows is an excellent example of Bracketted architecture as expressed in Annapolis Royal. The house sits well back from the road with a circular driveway and the Historic Gardens parking lot located in front. Excluding modern additions, the house has a square footprint with a back ell. The house has a medium hipped roof with a boxed cornice with a frieze and decorative brackets. The front facade is perfectly symmetrical with the entrance featuring steps, sidelights, a toplight and a pediment. There are six over six double hung sash windows with moulded surrounds. The building is clad with wooden clapboard. The windows are rectangular which is a hallmark of the Bracketted style. There is a one storey square bay window on the side of the building facing the tourist's entrance to the site. A large verandah was removed from the front of the building in 2004 which gave the building back its original facade. The Historic Gardens gift shop is a modern construction on the rear of the building. A modern breezeway and storage building with public washrooms has been built beside the building.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
-the perfectly symmetrical facade;
-medium hipped roof;
-boxed cornice with frieze and decorative brackets;
-wooden clapboard siding and cornerboards;
-rectangular six over six double hung wooden sash windows with moulded trim;
-front door with toplight and sidelights;
-decorative pediment over front door;
-segmented one storey bay window on side;
-elaborate landscaping including a rose garden, mature trees, a pond and numerous other features;
-reconstruction of a circa 1671 Acadian house located on the property built in 1982-1983.
From Historic Places Canada