Planting Fields: A Place on Long Island
edited by Gina J. Wouters and Jerome E. Singerman,
photographs by David Almeida
Monacelli Press, 2025. $59.95 list $49.95 Amazon
This new book tells the story of Planting Fields through photography by David Almeida, historic images, and sketches and plans by the Olmsted Brothers which capture the spirit of this rare survivor of the Country Place Era. An introduction by Witold Rybczynski explores the designers who shaped it and the families who lived there, and additional essays examine the history of the site and the displacement of indigenous peoples in addition to outlining the future plan for sustainability and resilience in restoring the landscape.
From its beginnings and over the decades Planting Fields Arboretum grew into a remarkable garden. With publication of Planting Fields: A Place on Long Island the reader can follow along like a traveler in time and gain an appreciation of its evolution. After all, as Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote, "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
A decade ago or perhaps a little more I was giving a talk on Long Island. How did the group decide to entertain me? Obviously, take a gardener to a garden. We went to Planting Fields. And now, a lovely book published just this month will take you there, virtually, to visit not only the estate but also its history. It is a celebration of Planting Fields, one of the few surviving estates of the Gold Coast of Long Island in New York.
Let me quickly tell you what to expect. Planting Fields is an English Country House transported to the North Shore of Long Island, about 30 miles east of Manhattan. Once home to William R. Coe, chairman of Johnson & Higgins, and his wife, Mai, an heir to the Standard Oil fortune, this lavish Tudor-revival mansion sits on a 400-acre landscape of rolling lawns, formal gardens,and woodlands. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, open to the public as a New York State Historic Park, its lawns and gardens draw more than 250,000 visitors annually. Now, let us open the covers and turn the pages . . .
The book has six sections. Five are well written essays, each by a different author, well illustrated, that explore a different facet of this glorious estate. And the sixth section is a photographic portfolio.
A Country Place and Its Makers by Witold Rybczynski. A Canadian American architect, professor and writer his books range from housing, architecture, and technology, written for a general audience. He explores the history and origins of Planting Fields, with sepia and black and white images of the families, house interiors, gardens, and floor plans. Who were the garden's designers, what was built, and what (because we are looking back in time) has changed.
Before the Gold Coast: The Early History of Planting Fields by Jennifer L. Anderson associate professor in the department of history at Stony Brook University, with a particular interest in public history, local history, environmental history. In her essay Anderson explores the arrival of Dutch and English settlers on land that had long been cultivated by the Matinecock. In turn, farms were bought up and consolidated into estates, and the Gold Coast of Oyster Bay arrived. Illustrated with deeds, maps, letters, a small wampum belt, to the cover of an early 20th century promotional book by the Long Island Rail Road.
Planting Fields: The House and Landscape, a portfolio of photographs by David Almeida, a world traveler currently based in New York whose work has been exhibited in art centers and museums. Brief captions identify every image, both the few selected historical images and the full page and double page spreads of house interiors and, of course, magnificent images of the gardens and landscape views. Images from around the seasons to help readers appreciate there is no down time. His photographs also appear throughout the book. For example, the Carshalton Gates and landscape designed by the Olmsted Brothers. The gates were bought in the United Kingdom,
imported, and enhanced with plantings of trees to augment the gates. More about the Olmsteds in following essays. The is a Camellia House, an elegant, separate glass house created specific for these woody shrubs, imported from Guernsey before WW 1, a particular source of pride and pleasure for Mr. Coe. And a charming Play House in spring. I'm not sure if this is the cottage that was turned into a tea house for Mrs. Coe.
On Planting Fields and the Making of Place, by John Dixon Hunt, emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania, served as the department chair of landscape architecture and regional planning. Opening with a discussion of the great houses and grand gardens of England. 'Capability' Brown and his inestimable work in creating landscapes that careful blended formal and natural elements. The family, Mr. Coe in particular, had an appreciation of English taste. And the Olmsteds took this into consideration. But the spirit of place that is Planting Fields is especially its own.
Planting Fields and the Olmsted Brothers on Long Island by Arleyn A. Levee, a landscape historian and preservation consultant offers a very readable exploration of landscapes on Long Island that were the work of the Olmsted firm, with a focus primarily on Planting Fields but also others. As long ago as the late 19th century the Olmsteds were involved with Gold Coast properties, each hundreds of acres, the building of mansions, artistry creating landscapes with woodlands, meadows, farmsteads. We can only appreciate and wonder at the survival of these places today.
A Historic Landscape Evolving Sustainably by Patricia M. O'Donnell, principal and founder of Heritage Landscapes, preservation landscape architects and planners. Tell me a story . . . The Matinecock lived here, farmed, inhabited, cultivated, for millenia. The story of what we think of as Planting Fields begins, more or less, in 1904 and evolves with Helen and James Byrne. Their land acquisitions (nearly 378 acres), a mansion was built, landscaping - some of which is still extant. William Robertson Coe and Mai Coeacquired the property in 1913. When he died in 1955 ownership was transfered to the State of New York. And in 2019 was engaged by the Planting Fields Foundation to develop a historically grounded landscape plan for the futures.
After all, as Rudyard Kipling said, "Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade."
Judy Glattstein lives in New Jersey at BelleWood. Let's see - the garden, c'est tres belle. There are bells in the garden. I'm the belle of the garden. And just maybe, as my husband occasionally says - my passion for plants makes me somewhat of a ding-a-ling.