November, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



419 



A North Shore Garden at Manchester-by-the-Sea 



By Mary H. Northend 



HEN Manchester-by-the- 

 Sea was young and un- 

 known to the summer 

 guest, Richard H. Dana, 

 the poet and essayest, 

 while driving along the 

 main road between Man- 

 chester and Magnolia, heard the sound of 

 the sea upon the beach. Upon investiga- 

 tion he found that the forest land at his 

 right presented an ideal location for a sum- 

 mer home; and so impressed was he with 

 the natural beauty of the spot that he 

 bought a tract of thirty acres, and became 

 the first summer resident of Manchester, 

 advance guard of the summer contingent 

 that now holds the North Shore from 

 Beverly Farms to Gloucester. 



Mr. Dana settled here in -1845. Eor 

 years he enjoyed it, with the friends who 

 always surrounded him. Among these was 

 Charles Sumner, who never tired of prais- 

 ing the romantic beauty of the scenery, 

 lauding it above the far-famed Biarritz, the 

 summer resort of Napoleon III. This is 

 now the summer home of Mr. Gardiner 

 M. Lane, president of the Museum of 

 Fine Arts in Boston, and son of the late Professor Lane, of 

 Harvard College. It has been changed materially, and 



The Garden Path from the Pergola to the Entrance 



Inside the Pergola 



every change has been for the better. Not many years ago 

 this part of the original estate was thrown upon the market, 

 and it chanced to be at a time when Mr. 

 Lane, while seeking a suitable place in 

 which to establish a summer home, was at- 

 tracted by the beauty of the North Shore, 

 with its rugged rocks and picturesque head- 

 lands. Influenced by the beauty of the 

 location at Dana's Beach, as well as by its 

 historical associations, he purchased the 

 land, and built upon the site of the old 

 house a handsome Colonial mansion. 



The grounds are extensive, and the 

 winding avenue which leads from the main 

 road gives but little idea of the beauty hid- 

 den from the public gaze. Slowly upward 

 mounts the avenue, climbing the hill be- 

 tween shadowy trees, whose branches leave 

 no opening for the passage of the summer 

 sunlight. Dotting the grass land, at the 

 foot of trees, by the side of the roadway, 

 are planted, as if by Nature, rhododen- 

 drons and other flowering shrubs, making 

 a picturesque foreground to the background 

 of trees. 



At the summit of the rising land stands 

 the house, overlooking the ocean, black in 

 storm, blue in sunlight, or silvery gray in 

 twilight mist. Before the house wide 

 lawns stretch to the very edge of the clifts, 

 and at one side lie the gardens. 



Just beyond the porte cochere we come 

 to a break in the hedge of shrubbery which 

 lines this part of the avenue, and see Eng- 

 lish stepping-stones cunningly laid in the 

 grass. These enable us easily to reach the 



