Haywood Hall

Haywood Hall was built in 1799 by John Haywood, North Carolina’s first elected Treasurer. Eliza Haywood began planting the garden in 1800, with a Brazilian magnolia seed, hydrangeas, roses, crepe myrtles, perennial bulbs, nut and fig trees, and a Kentucky coffee bean tree. Haywood Hall’s grounds, which at first encompassed an entire city block, provided ample space for vegetable and cutting gardens, grape arbors, and a gazebo. In 1977, the last Haywood to own the house bequeathed the property to the National Society of Colonial Dames of America; at this time, the gardens had fallen into a state of disrepair. H.A.N.D.S., a volunteer organization of garden clubs, undertook the restoration of Eliza’s gardens. Historical research provided many facts about the evolution of the gardens, its contents, and maintenance. Mac Newsome, a local landscape architect, was hired to plan a “low maintenance garden.” Over the next eight years Newsome and H.A.N.D.S. restored the grape arbors, replaced fencing, and re‐established paths. A new gazebo was built on the spot where Eliza’s gazebo had stood more than one hundred years earlier. The early kitchen building, the gardener’s quarters, garden shed and an 1814 barn flank the gardens. It is the oldest house in the Raleigh city limits on its original site.

 

Website: haywoodhallevents.org