File:Orchard at Peace Field (3cf440d6-9f40-404a-95ac-5db4224f9f0c).JPG

An orchard contains a group of fruit trees with leafy branches and short trunks, growing on a grassy slope near the shade of tall trees.

The Peace field property is significant in areas of politics/government and literature for the period of 1787–1927, when four generations of the Adams family owned and resided on the property. Constructed in 1731, the Peace field estate was part of the original Vassall/Borland estate. The garden west of the house included varieties of European fruit trees planted in the squared plots, as was the practice of this time. Fruit gardens were grown principally to provide edible table fruits, while orchards contained apples for hard cider. It is likely that a variety of fruit trees, including apple, pear, peach, plum, and cherry, grew in organized rows and fenced and/or walled with an ornamental enclosure. Although no illustrations have been found of the estate during the Vassall/Borland period, a mid-nineteenth century photograph depicts the corner of the garden and shows fruit trees spaced at about ten feet apart and a combined stone and post and rail fence along the edge of the garden. In 1804, John Adams planted a new orchard northwest of the house. Today, the orchard plan reflects an amalgamation of fruit trees from multiple periods and of multiple species, including apple, pear, cherry, and walnut. It is likely that some trees were lost and others added, though not on a clearly defined grid. Since the mid-1900s, the park preserved the orchard north of the house—the only evidence of agriculture that remained at the Peace field. The orchard contained a mixture of apples, pears, and peach trees from different eras. The park planted new trees to fill in gaps, with selections most likely based on information that Wilhelmina Harris had gleaned from Brooks Adams. Over the years, the park replanted short-lived trees and carefully tended existing trees in order to prolong their lifespan.

*Subject: Cultural Landscapes

• Keywords: cultural landscape; orchard; historic orchard; agriculture; Peace Field; John Adams