Walking Maudslay Park

Maudslay Park was once the estate grounds of Frederick Moseley, whose 72 roomed mansion was originally named Maudesleigh. The home and 480 acre grounds were built/developed between 1895 and 1910. Somewhere along the way, the estate’s name was shortened to Maudslay. I have yet to find out who Moseley was or what he did, but I assume it was lucrative to have such an enormous estate.

The grounds were designed by landscape architect, Martha Brookes Hutcheson, one of the first female students of landscape architecture at MIT (1900). She also had the distinction of being among the first three female members of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She seemed to do well for herself despite professional condescension from her male colleagues. In 1923 she published a book entitled, The Spirit of the Garden, which received critical acclaim and was a commercial success.

While at Maudesleigh, Hutcheson was responsible for designing the grounds around the 72 room mansion, the entry drive, and the several formal gardens and garden rooms.

Unfortunately, she never received the professional acclaim and fame that some of her male counterparts enjoyed and her work slid into obscurity during the last half of the 20th century. The gardens at Maudslay were allowed to decay and, tragically, the Moseley house was demolished in 1955.

The estate was acquired by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management in 1985 and renamed Maudslay Park.

In 2000, the Garden Conservancy entered into an agreement with the Maudslay State Park Association to help raise funds for the grounds’ rehabilitation. When the Association became aware of Hutcheson’s work on the grounds’ and gardens’ designs, they wanted to rehabilitate and preserve them. In 2001-2002 the Conservancy assisted in the planning effort for the rehabilitation of the gardens. The project is still ongoing.

As I said on Wednesday, it’s a beautiful place in which to walk. These are the sights we see:


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* Ever shrinking layer of ice.


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* Little bridge crossing a waterfall.


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* One of several stone bridges on the property.


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River walk.


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One of the corridors designed by Hutcheson.
There are doorways to ‘garden rooms’ along it.


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* One of the formal gardens in pretty good repair.


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The stairway doesn’t lead to anything currently.
The flowers are beautiful—not sure what they are.

* On some of the photographs I employed the Orton Imagery technique, which is kind of fun, lends a bit of a dreamy look to a photograph, and covers a multitude of sins.