Haunting Beauty of Grey Gardens

By Steven L. Brawley

September 3, 2017: As summer ends, here is a salute to Jackie's love of gardens. At the White House, she worked with Bunny Mellon to restore the White House Rose Garden. As a child she spent time at her Aunt Edith's house - Grey Gardens near her maternal and paternal grandparent's estates in East Hampton. Jackie and her cousins would have roamed the Grey Garden's charming paths and hideaways.

The now famous house was designed by Joseph Greenleaf Thorp and the garden landscape was the work of Anna Gilman (Mrs. Robert C.) Hill. Jackie's paternal Aunt Edith Bouvier Beale owned the estate from the 1920s. These gorgeous 1916 era hand-colored glass lantern slides of Grey Gardens' landscape are credited to Frances Benjamin Johnston and Mattie Edwards Hewitt.

Images courtesy Library of Congress.

 

Copyright Steven L. Brawley, 2002-2015. All Rights Reserved.