This past weekend Fearrington hosted designer Chip Calloway and writer/historian Mac Griswold for a special tour of Camden Park and dinner at Fearrington House Restaurant. Chip designed Camden Park in the mid-1990s, so it was a treat for us to hear about his design inspiration and plant selections as we walked through this quiet 17 acre oasis next to the Village Center.
Fifteen years ago, immediately after my mother’s death, my father asked Chip to create a park in her memory. Chip and my mother shared a passion for gardening and were good friends, so Chip well knew the plants and designs she loved. The result: a restful, elegant space consisting of open space, groupings of specimen trees and shrubs, and two large ponds and a connecting stream, all bisected by graceful, curving walking paths.
On the tour, Mac pointed out one of the great qualities of Chip’s design is how it – like Olmstead’s designs such as Central Park – leads one through a series of dramatic views such as open vistas, enclosed areas, and then, surprisingly, long dramatic views.
Mac has several wonderful garden books to her credit, including Washington’s Gardens at Mount Vernon, and has written for House & Garden, Garden Design and Vanity Fair. While here, she was a guest lecturer at UNC, visited the incomparable J.C. Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh and inspected the nurseries at Niche Gardens, Camellia Forest and Plant Delights (and transported a few carefully wrapped 1 gallon discoveries on the plane back to New York!). It was a busy but fun and rewarding weekend for all.