Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park is a state park located at 151 Charlotte Street in

Canandaigua Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county compl ...

, New York, at the north end of

Canandaigua Lake Canandaigua Lake is the fourth largest of the Finger Lakes in the U.S. state of New York. The City of Canandaigua is located at the northern end of the lake and the village of Naples is several miles south of the southern end. It is the w ...

, in the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

region of

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

. The house and gardens are open to the public every day, May through October.

History

The property was once the summer home of Frederick Ferris Thompson, a prominent banker in New York City, and his wife Mary Clark Thompson, whose father,

Myron Holley Clark Myron Holley Clark (October 23, 1806 – August 23, 1892) was an American politician from the U.S. state of New York. Early life Clark was born in Naples, Ontario County, New York on October 23, 1806. He was the eldest son of Maj. Joseph Cla ...

, was Governor of New York State in 1855. The Clark family was from Canandaigua. Mr. & Mrs. Thompson's main home was in NYC in a large townhouse on Madison Avenue. The Thompsons purchased the Sonnenberg property in 1863, keeping the name, Sonnenberg (which means "sunny hill" in German). In 1887, they replaced the original farmhouse with a forty-room Queen Anne style mansion. The property also had a farm to the east. Sonnenberg's gardens were designed and built between 1902 and 1919, and originally consisted of nine gardens in a variety of styles. The Thompsons had no children. The nephew who inherited the estate after Mary Clark Thompson's death in 1923 sold the property to the Federal Government in 1931, who built a veteran's hospital (today the Canandaigua VA Medical Center) on the adjacent farmland. The government used the mansion to house doctor's families and some nurses. In 1972, by an act of Congress called the Sonnenberg Bill, the mansion and its grounds were transferred from the Federal Government to a local non-profit organization formed to restore and reopen the property. It was opened to the public in 1973. All nine gardens have been restored and visitors can tour the mansion. In 2005, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation bought the estate. It is still operated by the non-profit.

Gardens

Today most of the gardens have been restored, as follows: * The Conservatory – A

Lord & Burnham Lord & Burnham was a noted American boiler and greenhouse manufacturer, and builders of major public conservatories in the United States. History The company began in 1849 when Frederick A. Lord, a carpenter, started building wood and glass gree ...

conservatory complex, built between 1903 and 1915, and considered one of the most important residential greenhouse complexes in the United States. The complex includes a domed

Palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

House, with other glass houses featuring

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

s, cacti, and tropical plants. * Japanese Garden – A miniature mountainous Japanese landscape, with

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simple ...

gate. It is said that its tea house was modeled upon a very old tea house in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, since destroyed by fire. In addition, there is a statue of Buddha. * Sub Rosa Garden – A green garden (having no flowers) with white marble fountain complex set off by green lawn,

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

, and

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

s. The fountain is

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

, with

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

. * Rose Garden – A

belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

with over 2,500

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

bushes. The main beds are red, white, and pink; other beds are more varied in color. * Italian Garden – Four sunken

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...

s in a

fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

pattern, bordered by yews, with about 20,000 annuals in the bedding. * Blue & White Garden – Blue and white flowers with a

Zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Z. sicula'') to large ...

japonica tree in the center. * Pansy Garden – Planted with pansies with a delightful pedestal fountain as the centerpiece. * Moonlight Garden – Only white flowers, blooming late afternoon, and many fragrant. Includes heliotrope,

tuberose ''Agave amica'', formerly ''Polianthes tuberosa'', the tuberose, is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, extracts of which are used as a note in perfumery. Now widely grown as an ornamental plant, the species was o ...

s and

verbena ''Verbena'' (), also known as vervain or verveine, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 150 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the Americas a ...

s. * Old-Fashioned Garden – A geometric garden, in which a low

hedge forms the

quincunx A quincunx () is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" or "in cross" in heraldry (d ...

pattern of five circles. Four quarter sections, each with a center circle, are filled with annuals and perennials surrounded with diagonal intersecting walks, and an arbor in the center bisects the fifth circle. * Rock Garden – Formerly three gardens (the Wild Garden, the Lily Garden, and the Rock Garden), completed in 1919, but now merged to form an informal, wooded garden. Its path winds through a canyon constructed of puddingstone, with natural pockets and crannies used for alpine plants. Water includes 500 feet (150 m) of streams,

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

s, and pools fed by geysers and springs. * Grounds were planted with many specimen trees (some planted by important guests), now numbering over 140 varieties.

Mansion

Built between 1885 and 1887, the 40-room Queen Anne style mansion was designed by Francis Allen, a noted

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

architect. Allen also designed and oversaw the remodeling of the mansion approximately 15 years after it was constructed. Two of the three floors are furnished and open to the public.The Sonnenberg Mansion
/ref> The mansion's facade is rusticated graystone with

Medina sandstone Medina sandstone is a geographic subset of the Medina Group stratigraphic formation in New York state and beyond. The name refers specifically to sandstone first quarried in Medina, NY and later quarried in other locations in Orleans County and ...

trim and gables made from

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

and stucco. The roof is slate with

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

-coated

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

Other attractions

In addition to the nine gardens and mansion, the property hosts the Finger Lakes Wine Center, which is housed in the Bay House and offers a number of local

wines Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

for tasting and purchase, as well a fine gift shop. A cafe is located in the Gardener's House serving light lunches.

References

External links