Topiary Delights and a 600-Year-Old Farm

Jill's Journal: While Rob kept one eye glued to hurricane information, the girls and I enjoyed the calm before the storm. We headed to the Narragansett Bay town of Portsmouth and the Green Animals Topiary Garden. The gardens were beautiful, with more flowers and trees than I could possibly name as I have anything but a green thumb.




Over 80 topiaries are interspersed throughout the seven acres of gardens, some over 100 years old. The summer “cottage” on the estate was built in the 1860s and the father/daughter team who owned it from 1872 to 1972 were avid horticulturists. The girls had an absolute ball running around the gorgeous setting and identifying everything from a unicorn to a teddy bear to an elephant. They chased butterflies and frogs and loved every minute in the enchanted little oasis.


After our topiary time, we went to nearby Jamestown on Conanicut Island. Our destination was Watson Farm, a working farm open to the public on certain days. The fascinating thing about this place is that the land was first cleared and farmed by Native Americans! They grew corn and beans and had their encampments on the land in the summers from what is believed to be circa 1400. It passed into the hands of the colonial governor of Rhode Island in 1657 and was “improved” significantly. During the Revolutionary War, the farmhouse was burned to the ground by the British and the entire farm pillaged. In 1796, the farm in its present form began when the current farmhouse was built and the land revamped.


Today it is a sustainable working farm and focuses on heritage grass-fed Red Devon cattle and sheep, all on 265 acres overlooking the bay. The girls and I had a tremendous time walking around the farm with its wild grasses and particularly enjoyed listening to the sheep eat. I’ve never been in the middle of a flock of sheep before and I was so surprised to hear they are not quiet grazers like horses or cattle! They sound more like pigs, grunting and snuffling along greedily.


Before we left, I broke down and bought two fresh steaks for way more than I would have paid in a grocery store. But how often does one get the chance to buy just-butchered, completely grass-fed, entirely organic steak from the guy who raised the cow from birth to butcher on a 600-year-old farm?