Originally part of the Peirces' working farm, this seven-acre woodland garden was carefully planned with native plants. During the 19th century, the Peirce family tapped sugar maples here for syrup and turned the woods into a pleasure ground for local residents by hosting picnics and adding rowboats on the nearby lake. Today, Peirce's Woods is a distinctive garden that highlights the ornamental qualities of a native deciduous forest and was one of the first projects of its kind in a public garden. Pierre S. du Pont wrote in 1945 that the purpose was to save the collection of old trees, many of them of extraordinary growth and arresting appearance. The woods include eight rooms emphasizing native deciduous azaleas, with Cathedral Clearing featuring massive oaks and maples overhead and the Rhododendron Rooms offering secluded spaces enclosed by greenery. In 1995, Longwood gardeners collected more than 10,000 plants threatened by a North Carolina highway project, and many of those plants were brought to Peirce's Woods.
