The 1750 Ogden House
The Colonial Dooryard Garden, Apiary, and Riparian Border
A HISTORY OF GARDEN STEWARDSHIP
Since 1934, the Fairfield Garden Club has maintained the gardens of Ogden House, an unrestored 1750 farmhouse, currently owned by the Fairfield Museum and History Center.
In the 1930s, Ogden House was situated on just two acres and was privately owned by Mary Allis, a prominent early American antiques specialist and Fairfield Garden Club member. Mary Allis had interest in creating a colonial garden and the Fairfield Garden Club committed to supporting her vision. According to the Club’s minutes, a tiered herb garden “such as might have been there in the old days” was established to the side of the house along a grassed slope. Today, this garden is known as the Mary Allis 1934 Herb Garden and features herbs familiar to modern visitors — a testament to their enduring appeal.
In 1974, ownership of the Ogden property passed to the Fairfield Historical Society, and the role of Fairfield Garden Club grew during this time. In 1975, a reproduction 18th century fenced garden featuring raised beds and clamshell paths was established under the guidance of colonial garden historian and author Ann Leighton. Shortly following, a pedestrian bridge was added across Brown’s Brook, and a native wildflower garden was established in the woods.
Over time, however, interest in tending beds beyond the fenced garden and herb garden waned and the property suffered from neglect. Brown’s Brook was hardly visible from the house and the wildflower garden was entirely overgrown. Starting in 2009, Fairfield Garden Club rededicated itself to the property and embarked on a significant clearing project that again made it possible to see and enjoy the waterway.
An apiary was added to the property in 2013, subsequently moved across Brown’s Brook to Oaklawn Cemetery and Arboretum after a flood swept away the hives. The 2019 addition of a modest grove of apple trees, featuring the earliest American apple varietal and the earliest American grafted apple, enhanced the apiary area.
The Fairfield Garden Club added a riparian pollinator garden along Brown’s Brook in 2014. This garden was featured in an Education Exhibit in 2015, winning a Garden Club of America Marion Thompson Fuller Brown Conservation Award.
In 2017, the fenced garden was expanded by nearly 50%, relocated, and renamed the Dooryard Garden. Additional medicinal plants appropriate to the colonial era, as well as historic herbs valued for household and culinary use, were selected for inclusion. In 2018, plant markers were created to educate visitors on these less-familiar species, and their value in early America. Over the years 2018 through 2020, native shrubs and trees of medicinal, culinary, and household use were added to the bank of Brown’s Brook and within the floodplain. Plant markers were added to all trees and shrubs and a full interpretation of the property was created, supported by an introductory sign and a QR tour of the Ogden landscape featuring ten native and ten non-native plants.
Over the years, the riparian pollinator garden became difficult to tend and was overrun by invasives. In spring of 2025, a simplified set of native perennials were installed by the Fairfield Garden Club Conservation Committee, who assumed maintenance of these beds. Additional native blue flag iris corms added in fall of 2025, extending the scope of the spring brookside iris planting.
In response to the inevitable decay of the raised garden beds, the Fairfield Garden Club embarked on a complete redesign of the Dooryard Garden in the fall of 2025. Beds were regularized into a pattern in keeping with the Georgian symmetry of the architecture of Ogden house, bringing the house and garden into stronger harmony. Signage was updated as needed, as less successful species were retired and new species introduced. The 1934 Mary Allis Herb Garden was refreshed and expanded, eliminating duplications so more species could be added.
As we enter our ninth decade of stewardship of the Ogden House property, Fairfield Garden Club is grateful to the many volunteers within our membership and the many supporters within our larger community who make this beautiful landscape a gift to all who visit.