What is there so special about overarching trees, even relatively young one’s like these. There is a sense of protection, enclosure and peacefulness. It is almost like the trees are keeping the dangerous outside world…outside. Of course, the wolves can always get through the woods, if they wish, bit as humans we still feel enclosure and safety.
In my hometown of New London, Ohio, all four main streets were overarched with huge 50-60 year old maple trees and it always lent a special air to the town, Even when one would toppled in the occasional thunderstorm or near-tornado or felt the brunt of an automobile that had gone out of control, they remained stately and comforting.
This photo holds a newer meaning for me, too. Since we have visited Sicily 3 times now, I find that any picture of Italy touches me in some way. There is a familiarity in what I have seen there. While this is near Rome, it could, just as easily, be the road leading to the 19th Century cabin on the flanks of Etna owned by some in-laws. We visited there on our last trip and I want to return again. The road to that house looked a lot like this, if a just a bit wilder.
“Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. (LOC)
Johnston, Frances Benjamin,, 1864-1952,, photographer.
“Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. Alley
[1925 summer]
1 photograph : glass lantern slide, hand-colored ; 3.25 x 4 in.
Notes:
Site History. Landscape: HeniettaTower (Mrs. George) Wurts and her husband restored the garden, adding sculpture, a botanical garden and aviary. Today: Public botanic garden.
On slide (printed): “Edward Van Altena” and “29 West 38th St., N.Y.C.” (Slide manufacturer)
Title, date, and subject information provided by Sam Watters, 2011.
Forms part of: Garden and historic house lecture series in the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection (Library of Congress).
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA,hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.16974
Call Number: LC-J717-X110- 67
More info on Villa Sciarra…
Previously in Garden History:
- Whitworth Gardens, Darley Dale, Derbyshire, England
- John & Lizzie Wilson from Boston in Bradenton, Florida, 1951
- Paris Exposition: gardens, Paris, France, 1900
- Wisteria blooms in Davis Garden (Locust Valley, New York), 1930
- “Killenworth,” George Dupont Pratt house, Glen Cove, New York, ca. 1918
- A Garden Under Glass, Nice, France, c1865-1895
2012 Gift Guide: Handmade Garden Projects: Step-by-Step Instructions for Creative Garden Features, Containers, Lighting & More
Elsewhere: Tree branch coasters
