Sarah Wharton Green, circa 1884. Featured in William and Henry Walters: The Reticent Collectors by William R. Johnston. Courtesy of a Walters family descendant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

history

A large portion of the Airlie tract once belonged to the Joshua Grainger Wright family who called the land “Mount Lebanon.” The Wrights were cousins of Pembroke Jones through his mother’s genealogical line: the Bradley family. Sarah Jones chose a spot of land held dear by the Bradleys on which to begin the formal plantings of her own garden. As Airlie’s garden vistas emerged, so did accompanying structures. The main house grew to 39 rooms, including a palatial 3rd floor ballroom. Another such space was constructed near a wing of 38 elegant apartments, man-made lakes, tree-lined paths, a tabby pergola, rose arbor, and stable civilized the land that had once been used as a farm of convenience during summer residencies. 

The Joneses, along with their best friend art collector and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad president Henry Walters, entertained lavishly and famously at Airlie. They welcomed their New York and Newport friends with generous helpings of Southern fried chicken and fresh roasted oysters — and led them through curvaceous garden paths that showed off the best of southeastern North Carolina’s natural beauty.

Much credit for the finished effect goes to German immigrant Rudolph Topel who Sarah Jones commissioned in 1906 to execute her garden plans: 155 acres of carefully planned landscapes that looked entirely natural. As Airlie historian Susan Taylor Block states, “Determined to follow the natural patterns and materials of nature, for the most part she embellished rather than built and restocked rather than introduced. She transplanted honeysuckle and magnolia from within the garden and added 1200 longleaf pines and 500 live oaks.”  Topel also oversaw the planting of a quarter of a million azaleas and 5,000 camellias.