The long, treed path sweeping east-west from the Weeping Garden to the Parterres is called the “allee.” This path dates to the 1840s and used to extend to the grounds of Bulloch Hall. Jane Bulloch Dunwody could use that path to visit her brother, James Bulloch, next door. The Bulloch children also enjoyed visiting with their cousin, Marion Dunwody. The enslaved people on each property likely interacted regularly as well, although surviving records don’t indicate whether any of the enslaved families were related.
Reid planted this parterre garden, but parterre designs have been popular in European countries, especially on grand estates like Versailles and Chatsworth, since the 1600s. A parterre garden, usually designed to be visible from the upper floors of a nearby house, consists of small, symmetrical gardens bordered by boxwood. Reid may have planted flowers in each of these four parterres, but in recent years, any flora growing there has been eaten by deer.
South of the parterres, on the way to the Kitchen Garden, stands a rare Cladrastis Kentukea, also called an American Yellowwood. Planted by the Hansells in the late 1990s, it’s certainly not as historic as some of the property’s other trees, but it’s an unusual species to find because it’s highly susceptible to storm damage.
Originally a grist milt built in the 1800s, the barn to the east of the parterre garden may have been moved to the property by Gus Tolson to house his polo ponies. Archaeological evidence suggests, though, that the pony paddock sat west of the parterres. In the 1960s and 1970s, the barn housed the Hansell family’s Shetland pony, Tony the Pony, who starred in many Roswell Youth Day parades. Structural damage has made the barn unsafe for visitors today, but it remains popular with animals. A family of vultures nests nearby and one often stands guard on the rooftop.
