The garden that exists today at 98 High Street, Newburyport, has evolved over time from its earliest association with the Cushing family, as far back as 1818. Sections of neighboring properties were added to the landscape during the nineteenth century, increasing the size of the property to its current dimensions. Cushing family members owned and cared for this property, tending the gardens until 1955 when Margaret Cushing died at the age of one hundred and the property was given to the Historical Society of Old Newbury by her heirs.
In the early 1960s, consultant and garden history author Isadore Smith of Ipswich (pen name Ann Leighton) was called upon to help define the garden and offer planting recommendations. She increased the cultivated area by mirroring the “square broken by a circle” plan that was still in evidence in the lower half of the garden, behind the fence with the arched gate. During the ensuing years, the gardens were cared for by neighbors Ben and Nancy Stone, members of the Society. By the early 1990s, the garden had gradually become overgrown and difficult to manage. New volunteers consulted with garden historian Lucinda Brockway of Kennebunk, ME, principal of Past Designs. After extensive fundraising efforts and thorough research of the house and grounds by Ms. Brockway, the current configuration was established, based on the 1867-1905 lay out of the garden which had been detailed in a sketch done by Margaret Cushing, showing the gardens as she remembered them from her childhood. The changes to the design that had been made in the 1960s were removed since the sketch showed that the upper area of the garden had been lawn as it is again today. This restoration and plan was implemented in 1998. A generous gift from the Morrill family, in memory of Frances R. Morrill, made possible an irrigation system for the grounds, which ensures the longevity of the gardens for future generations. Of special interest is the cobblestone yard, a rare feature seldom found extant in other historic properties of the period.
During the restoration in the late 1990s, the area behind the carriage house was converted to use as a propagation area for the plant sale held annually in conjunction with the HSON garden tour. With the recent restoration of the Perkins Printing and Engraving Plant, the campus of the Cushing House has increased, and the lower garden may once again undergo change as the path leads past it to the Perkins building.
For more extensive information about this garden and the influences of French landscape design on it, see the award-winning book Gardens of the New Republic: Fashioning the Landscapes of High Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts by Lindsay Cavanagh and Lucinda Brockway, available for sale in the Cushing House Museum.
