THE OLD GARDENS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
VIII.— AWBURY ARBORETUM 
GERMANTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, 
JOHN W. HARSHBERGER 
Professor of Botany, University of Pennsylvania 
[BOUT sixty years ago there was established a collection 
of trees by the foresight of Thomas P. Cope, who wished 
to beautify his private place known as Awbury. Ed- 
win C. Jellett, the historian of “Gardens and Gardeners 
of Germantown” (1914), gives an interesting statement of its 
origin. “Awbury,” he writes, “extending from Haines Street 
to Washington Lane, east of Chew Street, is one of the largest, 
one of the finest, and on account of its family life, the most in- 
teresting of many home estates. It is like a great park, abound- 
ing with walks, drives, rare shrubs, trees, and richly stored gar- 
dens. It is the home of the Cope, Haines, Emlen, and Lewis 
families, all related by birth or marriage, and of all the experi- 
ments in so named community life, to me Awbury is the most 
practical and beautiful. Awbury has had many gardeners, 
among them Peter McGowan; but shortly before his death, the 
late Francis R. Cope wrote me: ‘William Saunders completed 
the laying out of our grounds at Awbury, but much of the work 
had been done under the supervision of my brother, Thomas 
P. Cope, before Saunders came to Germantown.’” 
In the sixty years since their establishment, the trees and 
shrubs, have reached a large size, and the interspaces have been 
closed up by the meeting of the branches overhead and by the 
growth of the shrubbery underneath. The lapse of time has 
demonstrated that the original planting was well done, for there 
PA. 
The figures in the 
map indicate the 
locations of the 
gardens and their 
sequence in the 
series 
are many beautiful vistas, some of them suggesting the best 
examples of English park scenery with which those who have 
visited the English estates abroad are familiar. This heritage 
of tree growth has been threatened for a number of years by the 
spread of the urban limits of Germantown and the consequent 
building of solid rows of houses. 
The Cope family had been for some time considering the ad- 
visability of making Awbury a public park, when the undertak- 
ing was initiated by a provision in the will of Miss Annette Cope 
who died January 8th, 1916. This gift has been increased by the 
generosity of Miss Caroline E. Cope and by the action of other 
members of the Cope family; its value is more than one third of a 
million dollars. Of this sum, more than $ 200,000 , in accordance 
with the terms of the gift, has been used in the acquisition of 
VIEW OF THE LAWN AT AWBURY 
This restful sweep of lawn, girt about by fine trees many of which are part of the original plant- 
ing made more than a half century ago, is one of the delights afforded the visitor to Awbury 
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