Landscape Information
Developed between 1927 and 1933 by Robert B. Cridland for Martha Berry, founder and director of The Berry Schools, the landscape of the 163-acre Oak Hill estate is characterized by formal gardens within a naturalistic setting. Landscape features include a mature oak grove, open meadows, natural forested areas, hillside trails, a serpentine drive with a stone bridge, and formal gardens.
Cridland designed five distinct gardens - a large formal garden, goldfish garden, sundial garden, sunken garden, and flowered path – which particularly highlight spring flowering plants. Native stone curbs and walkways are used throughout the site for material consistency, and boxwood hedges define the distinct gardens. A boxwood-lined stone walkway connects the Greek Revival mansion to the formal garden, with an opening in the hedge that reveals the garden’s centerpiece pool and cast iron fountain. The goldfish garden is smaller, enclosed by a low stone wall, with another pool and central fountain. The terraced sunken garden includes irises and Kwanzaan cherry trees, with native stone walls that contain an embedded fountain. The sundial garden, historically a rose garden, features a sundial as its central ornament. Oak Hill, as part of Berry College, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
