And of course it's in New Jersey! Deep Cut Gardens was once owned by Mafia boss Vito Genovese, who bought the 54 acre property in New Jersey in 1935 as a peaceful retreat for his family away from their home in New York City. He obviously spared no expense in turning the site into a magnificent garden that reminded him of his Italian homeland.
He hired Theodore Stout to design the gardens, which included a terraced rockery crafted from Italian volcanic stone, with three pools and a miniature stone Mount Vesuvius that at one time emitted smoke. Lush evergreens and weeping hemlocks with striking contorted trunks complete the scene.
In the distance, there's a rose garden and a pavilion, but the swimming pool has now been filled in.
Two years after he bought it, Genovese, facing arrest, fled to Italy, and the property fell into disrepair.
In 1952, Marjorie Sperry Wihtol (of the S&H Green Stamp family) and her husband bought the property, and during the next 25 years added herbacious borders, a koi pond, a Japanese garden with bonsai, and a vegetable garden. The Wihtols also erected a new house and Library, now the horticultural center. Mrs. Wihtol bequeathed 20 acres of the property to the Monmouth County Park System, and the rest of the site was bought with Green Acres funding. The current Elvin MacDonald Horticultural Library has four thousand books and periodicals on gardening and related topics.
Aside from the designed gardens, you can stroll through a forest and woodland meadows that feature groves of chestnut, oak, maple and ash trees. Specimen trees on this property alone make it worth a visit.
Comments