Pettigrew, James Johnston, 1828-1863
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Washington City
Aug. 16th 1847
Dear Sir,
I received your letter on the 6th, and in compliance with your request visited the Capitol as soon as an opportunity occurred. No draught, such as you wished could
be procured, and the only thing of the kind, was a very small and imperfect plan, of which I took a
copy and herewith enclose it to you.
The Capitol, you know, is on a hill, which gradually declined towards the West.
The strip marked a a a a is the pavement running around the grounds outside; b b b b is a flower and
shrub bed, 20 feet wide, inside the the fence; W.W. are gravel walks,18 feet wide; W. W., M. M., are
the formal-feal walks, leading from each gateway, up the first terrace, paved finely with stones,
about 2 ½ feet by 1 1½, A. A. are two fountains, spouting into basis, 20 in Diam., B. B. are
circles, [40] feet Diam.; having 2 feet of the outer edge planted with flowers, and a tree in the
center, C.C. an lozenges, filled with flower and shrub, with a finitely trimmed box in the centre,
H.H., are stars, each point 15 in length, D. is another basin, having in it a [monument] of certain
naval officers. T.W.J.W. is the walk around the last trace, paved with stone, E.E. an little
arbours, which served well to mind the old saying that "Fools names &c".
In the first place with regard to trees, they are of all descriptions and sizes; sycamores, elms, a
seatting oak or two, and a great many firs, which are allowed to spread their branches to the ground
in many instances, and in their situations are very appropriate, Of course they can bear no
comparison with yours; most of them being transplanted; and when you do meet a native monarch of the
forest, that has been permitted to live out his old age on the spot, where he was born, the contrast
between nature and art is striking and by no means to the advantage of the latter. I suppose that
one object at the
Capitol, is to form a retreat from the bustle and glare of the city; therefore
its trees are permitted to spread their branches very low, and give the grounds a shady
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appearance. In this respect, you have a great superiority; yours cannot be improved; but
you should be very careful, lest the trampling around the roots and this exposure do not kill them
Once at home, an old Patriarch gave indisputable evidence of approaching death; after every other
means had failed, the earth for forty feet around was spaded up, and consequently the fibers and
smaller roots, which before had been unable to penetrate the compressed soil, now shot out again;
such a course would have saved several for you in the last four years.
Although it is extremely questionable whether any transplanted trees can equal those, which nature
has arranged in accordance with her own inscrutable system of beauteous irregularity; yet you may
improve the grove vastly by a proper attention to shrubbery: it comports well with the dignity of
forest trees, being though small, a manly growth, not like flowers, which have rather too much of
the woman about them. It will open an extensive field for the display of taste, far too extensive
for one to discuss. Let me recommend to your notice the box-brush, a great favorite at the Capitol, and a very suitable one. A fine gravel walk, with a row on each side;
or a row in front of each hall, with an opening would be pretty, do you not think so? The bed b b b
b is bordered by a continuous row of little box-brushes from 3 to 5 in. in height, and being well
trimmed resembles a long, green rope. The larger ones are cut into cones, hearts &c.
For my own part I do not approve of many flowers in public grounds, [though] a large open space is
allotted to them here; the bed b. b. b. b. being occupied by them and bushes scaffolds are placed
near them for support.
But in this department, your best plan would be to summon a meeting of the ladies on the
Hill, appointing her, chairwoman, who possesses the best taste, combined with
the most accurate knowledge of botany, according to
Dr. Mitchell
and leave the matter to them.
Decidedly one of the finest ornaments to the grounds, is the grass. In this respect,
Washington seems particularly blessed, for every old field adjacent, is
covered with virtue. I do not think that yours is naturally so good for yards; it has a tendency to
grow tall; but with proper care, you can have such as is in
Prof. Green's
yard, which is all that is desirable. To accomplish this, it may
be necessary to to turn up the earth and mar it good looks for awhile, but the trouble would be
amply repaid. To preserve its beauty, your walks must be well defined, no driving of wagons and
carriages out
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of the roads allowed; persons must be requested not to trample upon it with unnecessary
violence; tear down that wood gate, back of the
South Building
and replace it with one that will shut by a spring; also place
a stile by its side, so that students going out will be under no temptation to leave it open;
enclose the campus in a similar manner at
Dr. Mitchell's
. Thus keep out all the larger beasts and permit only such a
number of privileged college hogs (however ridiculous the idea may seem to those who are not aware
of the immense quantity of peelings and rinds thrown out of the windows), as may be necessary for
scavengers. Do this and your trees, shrubs, and grass will grow undisturbed.
A fountain would improve the appearance of the Campus marvelously, if it could be made.
Your principal walk might be laid with gravel, but then again, I think that you would do well to
follow nature; in all the little paths. The soil contains a sufficiency of sand to keep them dry,
and there is something pretty in the crooked paths; it looks natural.
The gutter on each side of the Capitol walks are about one foot wide, and made of brick, where the walk is of
gravel or stone, when it is of stone, they are curved downwards and every now and then empty,
through an iron grating into covered drains.
On the North side of the drawing, you will a section of the grounds, showing the grading, terraces
&c. The 1
st sudden rise, marked 2 steps, can hardly be called a terrace. The 1
st terrace is marked 23 steps and is about 15 feet high, the sides sloped about
50° or 60° with the horizon. The 2
d terrace is at the monument D., and is about 12 feet high. They are both in
circles around the
Capitol, and like the rest of the grounds well covered with grass. In truth a
stranger might walk over the whole place and never know whether the soil was formed by the
decomposition of pomition, secondary or tertiary rocks, or whether there was no soil at all, but the
real "Simon pure"
Hillsboro red-mud, which, while it does not lay any well-founded claim to the
cognomen soil, has the art of soiling ones clothes at a tremendous rate.
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Your terraces, if similarly covered with grass, will ornament, otherwise, they will deface
the buildings.
The room in which the library is placed resembles our new ones very much, being long with 6 alcoves
on each side and 3 sky-lights. The former are much higher than yours and indeed the pitch of the
room is much more lofty, which is a great advantage. The shelves as like yours, except that these,
from the window down extend into the alcove a few inches farther for the larger books. Each side of
the alcove is divided perpendicularly into two apartments, and each upper and lower apartment is
furnished with two wire doors; the wires forming by their interactions, lozenges an in. in length. 4
of the shelves on the West have windows, which are provided with plain rustic blinds opening
inwards. The entrance is on the East, and the portico on the West. Next to the fireplace on the
South is a sofa; then the Librarian's desk, of the same length, and the writing part 4 ½
feet high; then a long chest, or sort of bureau, with a great many drawers in it, same length and 3
feet high by 4 broad; then another sofa; then 2 tables same length also. Each alcove has a stand of
steps and a table much like those in the
Senate chamber of our own
Capitol, though not so large, and at each dividing partition is a chair, such as Mrs. Utley's
1. Above the alcoves are galleries, which, leaving a space for
walking around are similarly fitted up; but very plainly. It is very difficult to accommodate
expensive ornaments to monied ability. Upon the whole I think that
Mr. Donaldson has shown excellent taste in his plan.
I am very glad to learn that you intend visiting this city and shall be happy to see you. Although
there are not many books here relating to our state, there are a great many catalogues, which may
show where such books can be found.
Sect. Maury
says, that if you will promise not to eat any thing, he will be
happy to have you at his house.
Mrs. Maury is out of the city, and he has no cook so that he is not prepared to
treat his visitors to sustenance.
It affords me great pleasure to learn that your numbers have increased considerably and that, the University has taken a more moral turn. One thing, I hope you will
attend to. The division of the buildings has estranged the Societies very much, and has given rise
to a great deal of rivalry (not emulation). If they should come to open collision, the consequences
to the College would be quite injurious. When such feelings exist, the most trivial occurrence is
sufficient to arouse a storm. The most worthless individual has that much influence.