Landscape Information
After purchasing this oceanfront property in 1949, Calvin Hosmer, Jr. designed the hipped-roof stone house on an old barn foundation. He used stone found on site to build the house, garden walls, and walkways. About three acres of the property’s 100 acres are devoted to gardens designed by Marion Hosmer. She borrowed ideas from European traditions, using walls and windbreaks to protect plants and locating gardens closest to the house for privacy and convenience. Against the south-facing wall, espaliered fruit trees are part of a perennial garden enclosed by a stone wall and boxwood hedge. Immediately east of the house is a rectilinear kitchen, cutting, and rose garden. On the west side is an orchard with double rows of fruit trees protected by an arborvitae hedge. English ivy grows on the home’s north side. Paths lead through Civil War-era lilacs to the cemetery, magnolia garden, stone summer house with an espaliered pear fence, hay fields, and views the ocean shore. The property abuts the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and has a 30-acre conservation easement protecting fields, forests, and over 1,000 feet of shoreline. The Brave Boat Harbor Farm District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
