Self-Guided Garden Tours February 3, 2009

Thomas Peter, a landowner and tobacco merchant, and his wife, Martha Custis Peter, grandaughter of Martha Washington, purchased 8 1/2 acres on the outskirts of Georgetown in 1805. Today, the remaining 5 1/2 acres of this unique garden maintain much of the original Federal period design. In the early-19th century the family had many different requirements for the land including orchards, vegetable gardens, a stable, and grazing land for cows and horses. Six successive generations of the Peter family cared for and embellished the landscape as Georgetown and the Federal City grew around them. The last owner, Armistead Peter 3rd, completed major projects during the mid-20th century that shaped the gardens we see today.