Recreating a Colonial orchard and gardens.
“…a handsome Garden, a thriving Orchard of good Apple Trees and other Fruit, and a Well of excellent water. The whole place being under good post and rail and pallisade fence.”
— 1769 advertisement in the The Pennsylvania Gazette on the sale of Woodford.
We don’t know much about Woodford’s original orchard. According to architectural historians Mark Reinberger and Elizabeth McClean, the term “handsome” suggests that Woodford had more than a simple kitchen garden, and that the property probably had an “embellished kitchen garden with flowers interspersed with vegetables and the whole laid out in an attractive manner.”
ABOUT THE ORCHARD AND GARDENS
Joining forces to revitalize a neighborhood green space.
In the fall of 2008, the East Park Revitalization Alliance (EPRA), the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), the Fairmount Park Commission (FPC), and The Naomi Wood Trust at Woodford joined forces to bring back the orchard at Woodford.
Today’s orchard recalls the historic use of the property but is not a recreation. Designed by POP, it is an “eco-orchard” that is low-maintenance, sustainable, and organic, with a diversity of hardy semi-dwarf trees, bushes, and perennial herbs and flowers. We invite you to visit and enjoy the orchard and garden in every season.
ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD COALITION
Supporting the Fair Amount Food Forest.
In 2017, a grassroots neighborhood coalition formed with the goal of creating a food forest in East Fairmount Park, adjacent to Woodford Mansion. After years of planning and planting, the Fair Amount Food Forest was born in 2021 as a community-managed, local food source for the residents of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. Woodford is a proud supporter of this initiative, which has numerous plantings just outside the mansion’s south fence.
For more information on the Fair Amount Food Forest, visit their website.
VISIT THE PROPERTY
Explore the orchard and garden.
Today, we invite visitors to explore the Woodford Mansion orchard and gardens. Feel free to walk throughout the gardens while waiting for your tour, or pack a picnic to enjoy after exploring the interior of the mansion. If you have time, we also recommend that you step outside our south fence and pay a visit to our neighboring Food Forest.