When we want to see animals we typically head over to the Bronx Zoo, but if you want to pair seeing animals–albeit slightly differently than what you’re used to at the zoo–with leaving the Concrete Jungle behind, then we have the place for you: Green Animals Topiary Garden, a former estate purchased in 1872 that has slowly evolved into one of the largest topiary gardens in the nation.
Green Animals Topiary Garden dates back to the early 20th century–the small country estate was purchased in 1872 by Thomas E. Brayton, Treasurer of the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company in Fall River, Massachusetts. At the time, the estate consisted of seven acres of land with a white clapboard summer residence (which served as Brayton’s holiday home), farm outbuildings, a pasture, and a vegetable garden.
Between the years of 1905 and 1945, Gardener Joseph Carreiro, superintendent of the property, slowly transformed the grounds into a living garden, creating all the topiaries along with his son-in-law, George Mendonca.
In 1940, after Brayton’s daughter, Alice, made the estate her permanent residence, she renamed it “Green Animals.” An avid gardener and one who loved to entertain, Alice regularly allowed the public to enjoy the grounds and even hosted Jackie Bouvier, later to become Jackie Kennedy, where she went on to meet the future President John F. Kennedy.
Though hurricanes in 1938 and 1954 required extensive repairs to the garden, upon Alice’s death in 1972 at the age of 94, she left Green Animals to The Preservation Society of Newport County. Today, Green Animals remains as a rare example of a self-sufficient estate combining formal topiaries, vegetable and herb gardens, orchards, and a Victorian house overlooking Narragansett Bay. It’s also the longest standing in the nation and more colorful and abundant than ever.
Those who visit Green Animals Topiary Garden today will find over 80 topiary animals and figures. Some of the garden’s most popular sculpted trees include giant teddy bears, a giraffe that regrew its head after one of the hurricanes, and an elephant family, along with additional sculptured California privet, yew, and English boxwood trees.
The animals and figurines are spread among fountains, gardens, and shrubs–and if you visit May through October you’ll find much more than greenery as that’s when the garden blazes with colorful flowers! Sounds to us like the perfect summer weekend getaway!
Learn more about Green Animals Topiary Garden on their website.
And don’t forget that NYC has some of its own secret gardens hidden around–these are some of our favorites.
📍 380 Corys Ln, Portsmouth, RI 02871
🚗 ~3 hours