SPARE ROOM
Flower Garden
Among all of the charms and attractions of the home of Washington, not one can excel the beautiful flower garden—an ideal spot—with its memories of General and Lady Washington who planned it, the prim box hedges indelibly marking the walks and flower beds now as in the past. Distinguished guests were invited to plant trees, shrubs and flowers, mementos of their visits, many of which plantings have been perpetuated. Lafayette and Jefferson have leafy monuments here, while the roses named by Washington for his mother and Nellie Custis are daily sought by pilgrims.
At the end of the long walk in the garden is a little octagonal structure known as the school room, in which it is supposed the Custis children were taught their early lessons.
The greenhouse restorations are due to the efforts of Mrs. Martha Mitchell, Mrs. Lucy H. Pickens and Miss Mary Lloyd Pendleton, late Vice-Regents, respectively, for Wisconsin, South Carolina and Ohio.
Servants’ Quarters
Two long, red-roofed buildings adjoin the conservatory. These were the quarters for a limited number of servants needed at the Mansion. Comfortable cabins to house the rest of the negroes were located at convenient distances about the plantation. Both these quarters were in ruins, but have been restored—the West Quarters by Mrs. Jennie Meeker Ward, late Vice-Regent for Kansas in 1890, and the East Quarters by Miss Amy Townsend, late Vice-Regent for New York in 1897. While in exterior form these buildings are identical with their original appearance, the interior of each has been somewhat changed to meet existing requirements.