Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

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PERMANENT FILES FOR THE RECORD March 1, 1989
LANDSCAPE DESIGN INTENT STATEMENT
FOR
SHIELDS TAVERN
BLOCK 9, BUILDING 26B

The planting design "theme" established for Shields Tavern was conceived to support the objective of portraying a 2nd quarter eighteenth century tavern, while providing necessary site amenities and design concessions required to provide contemporary visitors with a colonial tavern dining experience.

Due to the early date of the tavern, the picket and paled fencing designs were purposely made of simpler, rougher, materials and shapes than what one ordinarily encounters elsewhere in the Historic Area. The tavern renovation provided architectural historians with a unique opportunity to portray an earlier eighteenth century building; using much of the new information gleaned via twenty-five years of additional research on tavern operations and building construction methods in early Williamsburg. Likewise, the design of the garden of Shields Tavern has attempted to use landscape archaeology, and additional garden research as a basis for the design to accurately portray a kitchen garden of an early tavern catering to "the middling sort". Some concessions to modern operations and visitor safety and comfort had to be made during this design development process; however, wherever else possible, the site layout and planting scheme attempts to create the proper visual ambience or "feel" of an early tavern backyard setting.

The primary focus of the landscape behind the tavern may be broken down into three separate major areas. These are the courtyard dining area with arbor, the kitchen garden, and the east courtyard area with the dairy and stillhouse.

The courtyard dining area is clearly where the most concessions had to be made to accommodate the service and seating needs for two hundred diners, in three seasons of the year. For obvious reasons, maximum space was paved in brick for durability and ease of cleanup/maintenance. Plantings in this area are confined to edges to provide a sense of enclosure, visual softening and color relief from the extensive white-painted picked and paled fences which surround the space. The planting areas also will lend the much-needed seasonal color to provide a visual change and interest to the outdoor dining experience. Since heaviest use will be during the summer months, the predominant plant used is Hemerocallis Flava, the Lemon Yellow Daylily, for several reasons: 1) The early-mid summer flowering period, 2) the loose, rangy, green foliage texture to lend an informal appearance to an otherwise hard-surfaced area, 3) the common availability and use of this plant in backyard areas in 2 the eighteenth century. To contrast with this plant choice, two other plants were chosen for this area with a blue-violet color scheme. These are the Siberian iris (Iris Siberica) and Periwinkle (Vinca Minor). Both are spring bloomers with the cooler colors, followed by the daylilies during the warm months. Seasonal bulbs planted at the Storehouse area (Narcissus, Tulips Anemone, Sternbergia; etc.) will provide additional seasonal interest within the dining area, along with a perimeter fence planting of Hollyhock (singles)(Althaea Rosea), Common Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium) and Ox-Eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum). The vine of choice for the large locust arbor is Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans). Maintenance in this dining area should be along the lines of a "B" type garden because of its constant use and because of the close visual scrutiny it will subjected to by visitors to the tavern. The choice of plant materials used will help to insure a looser, "informal" look which is desired here, but the planting beds should be kept weeded, mulched and free of trash/debris on a fairly constant basis to keep this dining area inviting. Without a doubt, the dining area, and those areas immediately adjacent visually from the dining area, should receive the first priority of care and maintenance attention from the staff.

The second most important and perhaps most "educational" area of the Shields Tavern site is the kitchen garden. The design intent is to replicate (substantiated by archaeological finds) a very authentic, functional, "summer emphasis" tavern garden, typical of the second-quarter of the eighteenth century. The overall visual character should again be rather loose, unstructured, and even somewhat haphazard in appearance; very similar to the Wetherburn's Tavern kitchen garden. No grass strips should be allowed to grow around the paths and planting squares in the garden, but a weed here or there at the edges of planting squares where they meet the marl paths would lend a plausible degree of realism. Flowers and herbs in the borders around the perimeter of the garden should be allowed to loosely drape into the paths somewhat, but should be trimmed as required to prevent an excessively "overgrown" appearance. Especially of concern are the Figs (Ficus Carica) along the borders at the east side of the garden, along the main brick access walk from Francis Street. Constant care will be necessary to prevent them from becoming too large and encroaching upon the walk circulation to an excessive degree.

The vegetable rows groundcover beds and herb beds should be kept free of weeds and trash/debris at all times. In cases where dead-heading in mid-summer will help to extend the blooming period of border plants, this should be done for this purpose. Late in the summer and in early fall, some of the plants in the borders should be allowed to go to seed, if possible, to achieve a visual display of a garden late in the season as it might have appeared in the eighteenth century.

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A large number of vines have been used in this design to grow on the fences for their color and fragrance. Great care will be initially necessary to train the vines on the fences to be secure and to cover the extent of fencing shown on the plan-sheet L3A. Later, once established, periodic pruning will be in order to prevent the vines from becoming too rampant or from covering more of the fencing than what is indicated on the plan. The Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), specified for the arbor, should be allowed to grow and eventually cover the structure completely to provide the desired shade for diners under the arbor. Maintenance for the kitchen garden, in general, including turf areas beneath fruit trees, should be along the lines of a "B" type garden with the exception of those items specifically noted.

The remaining area of the site is the east courtyard area with the dairy and stillhouse. The design intent here is to replicate at least a portion of the rear "workyard" space typical of eighteenth century taverns. The brickbat and marl pavement treatment should match the appearance of the courtyard at Wetherburn's Tavern. In addition, other permanent features of this area include a cord or two of neatly stacked firewood (not a pile of wood dumped in haphazard fashion), a pile of oyster shells, and a large (4-5 ft. diameter) excavated firepit with a large iron tripod and kettle placed over it. The firepit would have been used for periodic general uses such as washing linens and clothes, candle and soap making; etc. The wood stack would have been used for those purposes, as well as to serve the constant needs of the tavern fireplaces. The consumption of large quantities of oysters by tavern patrons provided a large surplus supply of shells which had a variety of uses. Not least amongst these was the periodic dressing of the garden paths and filling of low spots in the courtyard, so their appearance here in a stockpile "supports" this ostensible, historical use on the site. Minimal planting occurs in this area, notably a Chaste Tree (Vitex Agnus-Castus), Sweet Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius), Bayberry (Myrica cerifera) and the vines: Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quingefolia) and Tatarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica). At the porch, a small, ragged fringe of English Ivy (Hedera Helix) completes the minimal planting treatment. In all instances noted, the marl surface paving should be largely scraped away from the bases of these plants as noted on the Landscape plan-Sheet L3A. This is to allow drainage to root balls of plants and to prevent them from being planted in areas consisting more of shell than topsoil.

Although it is a difficult visual objective to achieve and to effectively manage, a very utilitarian look is sought for this small courtyard. It should appear suitably rough, with some weeds allowed to grow in the pavement and especially at the perimeter edges of the courtyard. This objective, however, should be a condition which is consciously monitored and 4 controlled, with periodic sprayings of Roundup as required to avoid a totally unkept and objectionable appearance to the space. The intent here is to provide a "vignette" of a believable and "rough-looking" work area for our guests. We must be careful, however, to prevent it from becoming obviously neglected and a visual detraction from an authentic tavern dining experience we are providing for our visitors.

The only other areas of the site not addressed as yet in this statement are "the service entry/stable area" at Francis Street, and "the John Coke office rear and side yards". The stable/service entry area is a functional, modern, work area, with minimal plantings only at the perimeters. These should be periodically pruned to prevent overgrowth, and lawn areas should be mown minimum of about 2-3 times monthly (or more frequently, if necessary) to keep high qrass and weeds down. "The John Coke office rear yard" will only be seen primarily from a distance by visitors from Francis Street through the service yard gate, and from the rear yard/garden of the adjacent KAT/Purdie's property to the west. It will be used very little and will see minimal activity, if at all. It should probably be maintained as a "C" type garden space, with particular emphasis/attention to controlling weeds in beds visible from the Purdies' courtyard and dining area entry. Preventing the accumulation of trash or other debris should also be a concern here and along the six foot high Shields screening fence to the east, as well. Finally, "the small, dining courtyard entry area", between the John Coke office and Shields Tavern should be kept neat, clean and inviting to visitors who view this area from the sidewalk outside the fence, along the Duke of Gloucester street. This is an area which will see heavy pedestrian traffic/use by those desiring to eat outdoors, and will require perhaps a bit more effort to keep it looking attractive and inviting on a regular and continual basis. It is a visually important space, for this reason.

This completes a general description of the desired visual appearance and functional design intent of the various areas of the Shields Tavern site. Many times the specific visual character desired for an area is difficult to fully articulate in writing in a way which is completely clear to those charged with achieving these objectives and maintaining the site. While the intention of this report has been to try to communicate some of these key ideas, nonetheless, the designer/author realizes that some questions can and oftentimes do arise which are not specifically addressed in an attempt of this nature. If such questions do arise in the future, I hope that those charged with the care of the site and landscape will feel free to contact me, (ext. 7633), if in doubt, for clarification about the desired visual character for a specific feature or area. The extra time and attention given to understanding the detailed objectives for layout and appearance of this, and all of our gardens, will ensure a higher standard of excellence in site and landscape 5 interpretation here at Colonial Williamsburg. Thanks for all your efforts to this end!