Then...Early Shadows' Landscapes
"China Pink, China Aster, Pansy and Turkey Violets sometimes called Hearts ease, Dalia, and any other kinds you please as I am quite in a humor for gardening and all will be acceptable." - Mary Weeks Moore
A great deal can be learned about the early occupants of the house and how they felt about their landscape. Mary Weeks Moore, first owner of the house, was an avid gardener. From her letters it is clear that Mary Weeks Moore enjoyed acquiring and cultivating new plants sent from friends and relatives. Of special note are the letters between Mary Weeks Moore and her daughter Allie (Harriet Weeks Meade Weightman), who was also a gardener and plantation manager. Mary divided her time between ornamental gardens filled with flowers and shrubbery and useful kitchen gardens filled with cauliflowers, leeks, squash, peas, corn, and potatoes.
Subdivision of the property took place in 1859. Prior to this, the house
was situated on a 158 acre plantation which produced food crops: sweet
potatoes, cabbages, and turnips to feed the slaves on the family's sugarcane
producing plantation. There are also physical and archival references
to slavery on the Shadows' landscape. There are archeological remains
of two brick buildings believed to have housed some of the estimated 30
to 40 slaves who lived on the property, and the remains of the kitchen
which was a building separate from the house.
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