Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

New Jersey Historic Trust Affiliated with the Department of Community Affairs

Gardens at Bamboo Brook

Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund
Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund
Historic Site Management Grant
Capital Level II Grant
Grant Award: $750,000 (2002); $50,000 (2019); $260,605 (2022)
Grant Recipient: Morris County Park Commission
County: Morris
Municipality: Chester

Merchiston Farms was designed by Martha Brookes Hutcheson, New Jersey’s first licensed women landscape architect and the second in the country. She married in 1911 and her and her husband purchased Merchiston Farms at the time when Country Place era landscape design was on the rise. She immediately made changes to the nineteenth century farmhouse and integrated the landscape to include formal garden styles, such as allees, terraces, fountains, garden sculpture, use of native plants, and designed views. In 1927, Mrs. Hutcheson updated her plan with the addition of a swimming pool, wood walks, use of springs, brook, and wild growth, tennis court observation arbor, vistas, walls, seats, and farmyard grouping of outbuildings. Merchiston Farm was donated by the family to the county in distinct parcels from 1972 to 1986. Today the property is owned and maintained by the Morris County Park Commission and functions as the Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center for the study of horticulture and preservation.

The 2022 Trust grant will help fund Phase IV restoration of the gardens.

The 2019 Trust grant helped fund the preparation of design and construction documents for the tennis court (including the arbor and playhouse), orchard, and the ha-ha wall feature at Merchiston Farm. The 2002 Trust grant helped fund the first phase of restoration of the gardens to their ca. 1944 appearance. Areas of the garden that were restored include: the Coffee Terrace, East Lawn, Orchard, and water areas. 

For more information, visit: https://www.morrisparks.net/index.php/parks/bamboo-brook/ 


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