Gardening

[snokkums]

I was planting my garden today and I was thinking. I wonder if Lizzie did garden at maplecroft, or before. What did she like doing, hobbies and such.

[augusta]

Let's see ... She liked to read. Travel. Attend the theatre. Good restaurants. She loved animals. (Emma did, too, yet we hardly ever see any mention of that.) Give gifts to others. I think she liked fishing, but I don't know how many times she actually went. I believe she liked to take things from stores without paying for them. Oh, yeah. She liked to get her picture taken I've read. She liked to give gifts anonymously, which I think says that maybe she was afraid of any publicity it might bring or that she was a modest person at heart.

I haven't read of her gardening. But it's an interesting thought. I wonder what flowers or plants were put in at Maplecroft at her behest - or if she did do it herself.

[Debbie]

What an excellent question.
I thought ladies of that period would at least grow flowers, if not a vegetable garden.
We know Lizzie loved nature, or should I say animals. Maybe she had so many around her place she couldn't keep a garden because the animals would have eaten it up.
I don't remember reading anything about a garden on 2nd. street and that surprises me. Andrew was so frugal, one would think he would grow his own vegetables. Then again, maybe they did and I have missed reading it.
I do miss a garden myself, but traveling all the time doesn't allow it.
Debbie

[Harry]

Newspaper reporter Manning, who looked around the 92 Second St. property the morning of the crimes, testified in the trial (p1482):

"Q. What did you do then?
A. I went around the east end of the house, went around the yard a great deal: walked along the flower garden on the south side of the building: walked along the Kelly fence: went around a pile of lumber that was in the back of the yard and also along the fence at the back. Then I came to the barn door: it was open: I went in there a moment."

Photos of the south side do not show a garden but do show a rose bush and some growths along the ground. I believe I read somewhere that they were Abby's. Need to find that reference.

The rose bush was still there in 1893. The Boston Globe reported on June 26th, 1893:

"... Passing by the house, nothing was to be seen on the other side save the green, green grass in the yard and a beautiful rose bush, its flowers of red contrasting with the dismal color of the building against which they bloomed."

This 1892 photo shows the rose bush:

[Debbie]

Thanks Harry for that information. I knew either you or Kat would have the info on gardens on 2nd. street.
Debbie

[Harry]

I don't remember reading about them growing any veggies at 92 Second. Obviously they had pears (lots of them ) and possibly grapes.

Makes you wonder what they grew or raised on the farms over in Swansea. Was at least one farm part or wholly a dairy farm? They did receive their eggs and milk from Swansea.

[Robert Harry]

Yes, thanks, Harry! Do we know for sure what that "dismal color" of the Borden house was in 1892? I know the paint was referred to as "drab," but I never heard it called "dismal." Have not been a regular here in this forum for a while, but have been checking in lately. I think this topic was probably discussed before, but especially since the house renovation, has there been any evidence of paint color from the time of the murders?

[DJ]

Going off memory-- I've read somewhere that Lizzie was the one who picked the color the house was painted, the painting that resulted in the infamous paint-stained dress. Wasn't the house painted, then, in late May or June of 1892?
Wasn't the color "turkey red"-- a brownish-red/ I had a chest of drawers painted this exact color when I was growing up. It's a color similar to the one that many old barns were painted. Sort of a dull red, an "antiqued" red.
Or, maybe the house was a duller color, more brownish, and the shutters were painted turkey red.
*************************************************************
Considering all the tales of "boys" and others cutting through the yard, it's small wonder that there wasn't a kitchen garden at No. 92. If, indeed, boys were breaking into the barn to steal pigeons, then they would have made short work of a garden's labors.
************************************************************
As for Lizzie's hobbies-- I've read that she enjoyed feeding/watching the birds at Maplecroft.

[augusta]

Some time ago, Kat and I dug into the subject of the house color. I kept what we found, since there are different descriptions from different sources.

There is a mention or two of flowers on the place - "a flowering snowball plant was in front of the barn at the time of the murders", below.

I don't think the house was painted like the B & B is today, but I really like the color of it now and myself, I wouldn't change it to "drab".

I think "drab" was an actual color they had back then (see the last line).

Sorry, DJ, no 'turkey red'.
******

This comes from Rebello - pages 32 - 34.

The Borden home is a two-story, twelve-room Greek Revival with a third floor attic. A barn was also on the property. A flowering snowball plant was in the front of the barn at the time of the murders. The front door had a large brass name plate inscribed with the name Andrew J. Borden.

…

The Borden home was painted on May 10, 1892, by John W. Grouard. The color of the Borden home was chosen by Lizzie. Mr. Grouard described the color as "drab" when he testified at the Borden trial.

Trial: 1349-1350
Jennings: What was the color of the paint?
Grouard: Kind of a dark drab.
Jennings: What was the trimmings? Was there any difference in the color of the trimming?
Grouard: A little darker.
Jennings: You painted the steps and everything connected with the house I presume?
Grouard: Yes, sir.
Jennings: The well, house and fence, everything?
Grouard: Yes, sir.

The Boston Daily Globe [June 26, 1893], published the following account of a newspaper reporter's visit to the Borden home on Sunday morning two weeks after the trial. The reporter waited to see if Lizzie would attend church. It appeared from this account that
the Borden house was painted a drab, olive-brown color. The trim was the same color but darker.

***

… Just beyond was the house of the Bordens -- which now shelters the 'woman in black,' her sister Emma and a housekeeper, -- modest in its color of drab and the grounds neatly kept. ("Just beyond THE BARN" Rebello is saying. He was just talking about the barn and I edited that out. - Sherry)

***

… the old-fashioned, white-painted inside blinds [shutters] were partly closed. The green, outside blinds [shutters] of one of the parlor windows …

***
… Passing by the house, nothing was to be seen on the other side save the green, green grass in the yard and a beautiful rose bush, its flowers of red contrasting with the dismal color of the building against which they bloomed. ….

***

Victoria Lincoln, in her book A Private Disgrace (1967, 93, 154, 178), made three references to the color of the house: (1) "It [Lizzie's dress] had been, they claimed, so stained with brown paint at the very time it was made (in May when the house was painted) as to be useless." (2) "Brown paint, the hue of dried blood, as I only learned from the housepainter's evidence when I finally got my hands on the final thousand pages of the trial - Vol. II. The sheep that was lost and was found." and (3) "The slop pail and the brown-stained dress that was burned were enough."

Note: "Miss Lizzie Borden arrived in this city [Fall River] soon after 8 o'clock this evening. An immense crowd, which reminded one of the early days of the horror, surged about the brown house on Second Street. ... Miss Borden did not go home. [She went to the home of Mr. Charles J. Holmes on Pine Street, a short distance from Second Street]," Providence Daily Journal, Wednesday, June 21, 1893.

***

The Boston Daily Globe referred to the color as "modest slate."

"It's a two-story and a half house, long and narrow, and stands almost on the street. Painted a modest slate, it is not liable to attract attention except perhaps for the wisteria and woodbine which climb about the front door, which is approached by a short flight of stairs." Boston Daily Globe, Friday, August 5, 1892: 4.

***

Given the painter's description of the color as drab, the Boston Globe reporter's reference to green and Bridget's testimony to blinds being outside shutters, it may very well be that Second Street was painted drab olive, khaki color with a yellow-brown tint in 1892. It was sometime after the trial that 92 Second Street was painted grey.

"The dwelling, as is generally known, was abandoned by the Borden sisters not long after the acquittal of Miss Lizzie Borden. It has, since this event, received a coat of dark drab, or grey paint, but otherwise it is unchanged." Boston Daily Advertiser, June 5, 1894: 8.
***

Note: Drab-dull, wanting brightness or color; of a dull light-brown or yellowish-brown (Murrary, James A. H., A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897, 631)
- end-

[DJ]

Thanks, A!
Yes, drab is a shade of light brown, like chocolate milk.
There's a Victorian house in a town near me that's painted "drab" with dark-brown shutters. Looks much nicer than it sounds!

[SummerCodSuz]

I had wondered if they had any kind of vegetable garden, too. It seems all they ate was meat and bread foods. Meat in the summer, even at breakfast seems like it would be very heavy to me. When it gets really hot here I tend to eat lighter, usually just fruit for breakfast. OTOH, eating cold mutton would probably be similar to us eating coldcuts on sandwiches today.

[augusta]

Suz - Not that mutton!

[snokkums]

I think that Lizzie probably would have grown roses, bushes and things. Not so much a vegtagle garden. But, I 'm just guessing.

[SummerCodSuz]

Suz - Not that mutton!

What, you don't like coldcuts after they've been setting out a few days in the hot summer heat, augusta?

[nbcatlover]

Thanks for your description of drab, DJ. In this area, it always referred to a color also referred to as "olive drab.' Think the color of a World War II jeep.

[augusta]

Even Lizzie laughed during the trial when someone brought up that mutton on the stand.

I think the mutton broth was warmed. The johnny cakes may have been warm, but I think they were heavy on the stomach.

I never heard of the Bordens having a vegetable garden. I would think if they had, we would have read something about it. Andrew probably would have complained about animals or kids traipsing thru it and eating some of it. They might have grown vegetables on their farm, tho. I don't think Andrew kept the farm solely to harvest some eggs.

I'm a little surprised that Mrs. Borden bought their meat for dinner in town, and Andrew didn't make them eat animals from the fahm.