Gardens - Estate Overview - French Parterre - Rose Garden
Lunar Lawn - Japanese-Style Garden - Greenhouses
Cutting Garden - Other Points of Interest - Seasonal Interest



Front GatesMain Drive
Guests of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s entered Hillwood through gilded gates and traveled on a winding drive past terraced banks of flowering trees and shrubs, and under towering shade trees and conifers to reach the main entrance to the mansion that is protected under a Porte Cochère. Enclosed within brick walls covered with vines and faced with azaleas, the motor court features a statue of Eros, god of love, centered in an elliptical bed of turf and ringed with a garland of English ivy capped with arrows of variegated English boxwood.

Putting Green
Marjorie Merriweather Post and her guests enjoyed afternoons of leisurely exercise on this nine-hole putting green below the south wall of the rose garden. Constructed of a fine bentgrass turf, the garden was set with cups and pins and was enclosed in a hedge of Japanese hollies to keep renegade golf balls from rolling off the green. A filled putter rack on the upper terrace provided a place for guests to "tee off," while the terrace below offered a focal point and an additional resting place.

Friendship Walk Friendship Walk
Four of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s closest friends conceived of this gift in honor of her civic philanthropy. They worked closely with Perry Wheeler, a Washington landscape architect, and Mrs. Post’s head gardener to design a garden that was worthy of her generosity to others. The theme of the garden – "Friendship outstays the hurrying flight of years and aye abides through laughter and through tears" – was inspired by a 1909 postcard written by Alexandra, the last empress of Russia, to her good friend, Countess Anna Vrubova. That inscription, carved in Italian serpentine marble stone, marks the terrace end of the walk. In October 1957, Mrs. Post and her friends gathered for a dedication ceremony, as their gifts of sculpture and statuary were presented here.

Dacha
Dacha This version of a single-room Russian country retreat was the second dacha Marjorie Merriweather Post had constructed in Washington. The first was built at her former estate, Tregaron, as a library and study for her husband, Ambassador Joseph Davies. Built in 1969 to house a collection of Russian art, the dacha is located on one of the focal points of the rhododendron walk that encircles the Lunar Lawn. Constructed of California redwood that was stained and shaped to replicate logs, the windows and door frames of the cottage are embellished with polychrome carving, and small onion-dome finials top the slate roof. Mature trees and woodland plantings provide a tranquil atmosphere for this peaceful area

Pet Cemetery Pet Cemetery
Commemorating the years of pleasure garnered from her pets, Marjorie Merriweather Post built this cemetery where the closely wooded site offers a private place for remembrance. The garden features markers bearing the names of each pet. Each marker is set in beds of plants that emulate the mood of the garden, such as weeping dogwood, lily-of-the-valley, bleeding heart, dogtooth violet, and forget-me-nots. Four statues of dogs offering a gift of flower baskets are located in each corner of the cemetery entrance.


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