A Garden of Mystery & Mysticism

Innisfree
Whichever way you turn, this garden enriches the soul, calms the mind, and nourishes the spirit.  It's the wind through the trees, the babble of water, the sun shining through a fountain-jet of mist, the huge, stately rocks placed meticulously throughout the landscape.

Innisfree is the masterpiece of the late American painter Walter Beck, and his wife, Marion.  Marion was the daughter of 19th-century iron magnate Wellington Burt, and she inherited 950 acres, including a lake, forests and valleys in Millbrook, NY. The couple visited Europe for gardening inspiration and found it in London: a Chinese scroll by 8th century poet and painter Wang Wei. 

Beck decided to re-create at Innisfree what he saw in the paintings.  He called them "cup gardens" -- individual scenes composed of boulders, plantings, and water set into the natural landscape. 

Beck started work at Innisfree in the 1930's.  In 1938 he met landscape architect Lester Collins, and that was the beginning of their long collaboration on the garden.

Collins had studied in China and Japan and was familiar with a classic Japanese handbook called the Sensai Hisho, or the Secret Garden Book.  Collins took on the task of connecting Walter Beck's series of "cup gardens" into a coherent whole.

Now, visitors can spend an entire day on a journey from one tableau to the next, seamlessly integrated by winding paths, wooden bridges, perennial gardens, artfully placed rocks and trees that send one along effortlessly to the next vista. Yet despite the Asian theme, there is also something distinctly American about the gardens at Innisfree.

After Walter Beck's death in 1954, Collins continued work at Innisfree, sculpting the land and building more unique garden vistas. When Mrs. Beck passed away five years later, the garden was turned into an educational foundation under the stewardship of Collins, who continued working on it until his death in 1993.  The garden was opened to the public in 1960.

In his book about the garden, Innisfree: An American Garden (Harry Abrams, 1994), Collins notes that it is in keeping with ancient Chinese gardens: "The observer," he says "walks into a series of episodes, like Alice through the looking glass."

The day we visited Innisfree, on a trip with the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), we had only an hour to visit the garden.  It was not nearly enough time to walk around the lake, visit the man-made island and all the rest of the garden's magical features. There's a picnic area where you can stop for lunch, but make sure to leave at least two or three hours for a visit.  It's a garden experience unlike any other.

Innisfree is open only from May 7th through October 20th. It's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, except legal holidays. For more info on hours & opening times, visit the Innisfree website.

(Click to enlarge photos; click on link to purchase book)