Glen Foerd Grounds

During the Gilded Age, new fortunes in the United States made it possible for wealthy city-dwellers to commission extravagant country estates with picturesque grounds. Glen Foerd’s landscape design reflects styles of the Country Place era, which gained popularity in the late 1800s as a result of economic change and pervasive interest in the benefits of natural environments. Remote scenery and fresh air were widely believed to promote moral and physical well-being. Popular sentiments for the natural world grew with the rise of romanticism in painting and literature, while similar perspectives influenced architectural thought and urban planning.

The availability of attractive land and professionalized landscape architects facilitated the development of extravagant residential grounds across the east coast. Influenced by widespread manuals on style and large-scale global exhibitions, Country Place Era landscapes share a common aesthetic language emulating European designs and designating specific zones for different plants. Check out the Rose Garden to learn more.

Several structures that once stood on the grounds of Glen Foerd have been removed since the early 1900s. Southeast of the house, the original owners had a series of large greenhouses for the cultivation of warm-weather plants. A small residence from the Macalester era of ownership once stood at the position of the lily pond, which is emptied but still remains just south of the house. The Foederers razed the small house and installed the lily pond, which featured beautiful water plants, a fountain, and figure sculptures that are now stored away.

In the springtime, Glen Foerd’s grounds bloom with roses, azaleas, daffodils, and hyacinth. Year round you can also find historic shrubs and many mature trees. The estate’s heritage trees include cucumber magnolia, sargent weeping hemlock, little leaf linden, fullmoon maple and a weeping japanese pagoda tree.