Why is the lawn sunken?

Thomas Jefferson designed the sunken lawn to accommodate the lower level of the house and create an area like a plain parterre or bowling green. Enslaved laborers led by Phil Hubbard, working on their own time for pay, excavated the lawn and built the mounds flanking the house with the backfill. In 1812, Jefferson directed his overseer to plant flowering shrubs on the banks. Archaeologists later located these plantings during excavations of the sunken lawn, where they appeared as dark organic stains in the soil. Pollen grains recovered from these stains were linked to two of the five shrub species specified by Jefferson. Phytoliths recovered during excavation suggest the lawn itself was planted in turf, while native grasses and weeds also grew on the banks with the shrubs. Archaeologists also found an accompanying drainage system, and the relationship of the drain to the planting holes and lawn surface indicates that Jefferson redesigned the lawn sometime after 1814.

Forest, Virginia · United States