In 1948, The Garden Club of Virginia offered to restore the Pavilion Gardens. Alden Hopkins, Landscape Architect for Williamsburg, was chosen as landscape architect. Hopkins drew plans for the gardens and supervised the restoration of the West Gardens. After Hopkins's death, Donald H. Parker, his assistant, finished the work in the East Gardens. The West and the East Gardens are quite different from one another in part because there were two designers. The topography also plays a large role as the West Gardens are relatively flat while the East Gardens are terraced into the hillside. The West Gardens were dedicated in 1952 and the East Gardens in 1964. The Garden Club of Virginia continues to guide the care and maintenance of the gardens.
The restored garden designs reflect Jefferson's gardens at Monticello as well as landscape plans in Jefferson's collection of books. Other colonial gardens, such as those at Mount Vernon and Williamsburg, also provided inspiration. The plants were chosen from those known to Jefferson, many having been cultivated at Monticello. The garden walls were reconstructed from evidence provided by Peter Maverick's engravings of the academical village in the 1820s, archaeological studies, and standing pieces. Their graceful serpentine form helps to stabilize the walls, which are only one brick thick. The Maverick engravings also showed how Jefferson's spacing of the pavilions created gardens behind Pavilions I and II which are 90 feet wide while those behind Pavilions IX and X are 150 feet wide.
"Necessary houses" or "privies" were also reconstructed in six of the gardens and now serve as garden sheds. In the East Gardens, where they are not reconstructed, the foundations are outlined in brick. The gardens are each numbered in accordance with the corresponding pavilions.
Six gardens are divided in half by serpentine walls. The upper gardens are called Pavilion Gardens and are more formal and contemplative. The lower gardens are called Hotel Gardens as they correspond to the former dining halls on the range, called hotels, and are interpreted as utilitarian gardens and orchards for kitchen use.
In 1987, the University of Virginia Grounds were named a World Heritage Site on UNESCO's prestigious World Heritage list, which includes the Taj Mahal, Versailles, and the Great Wall of China. While professors and their families continue to reside in the pavilions, the gardens are open to the public. We welcome you to visit any of the gardens and experience a part of Jefferson's academical village.
