compiled by Richard W. Hill
Recently, Landscape Architect Shep Williams, a native of North Easton who formerly lived
in the old “Antrim Shop” next to the library on Main Street found the original 1877 plans for
the landscaping of Unity Church and the Village Cemetery. Bowditch was a Boston landscape
gardener and civil engineer of some prominence, who had designed that city's park system.
Born and educated in Boston, he briefly worked for western railroads and was a topographer
and geographer with the federal canal expedition to the Isthmus of Darien. He later went into
private practice in Boston, became impressed with landscape gardening and planned the
gardens of several large estates. In 1887 he designed the residential community of
Tuxedo Park, New York.
The hiring of Bowditch continued the precedent of excellence in design begun with John Ames Mitchell,
William J. MacPherson, and the Hook brothers that followed with John LaFarge, Henry Vaughan,
Johann Kirchmeyer, Charles Connick, and many fine organists.
Bowditch had made his reputation with his design of the Walnut Hills Cemetery in Brookline. In 1872,
the Town purchased 30 acres in South Brookline for its new cemetery to replace the Old Burial Ground
on Walnut Street near the original Town Hall. Ernest W. Bowditch and Franklin Copeland, Landscape
Gardeners, were recorded as the presenters of a design plan in 1874 which included two Sylvan Lakes
with bridge, The Pool, a formal Central Square, and five buildings: greenhouse, superintendents house,
waiting room and chapel. In 1875, a simplified plan was presented by Bowditch with the same curvilinear
road system, a waiting room and a holding tomb. The other features were eliminated. Bowditch was
one of the surveyors for the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge in the early 1870’s for the firm Shedd & Sawyer.
“Cemeteries are rarely found on land characterized by hills, ledges, large rock formations, abundant
trees and green growth. It was precisely these features that made possible the creation of Walnut
Hills Cemetery in the new rural style of “rural beauty and quiet charm.” The plan of Ernest W. Bowditch,
the designer, freed nature to dispel the gloom and melancholy of earlier burial grounds.”
Even after moving to New York, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H.Tenney retained their ties with Methuen, MA
returning to build a magnificent summer home, "Grey Court" on the top of what had previously
been known as Jones Hill. Tenney hired landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch, who was responsible
for the layout of Tuxedo Park in New York, to develop a plan for the estate. Bowditch also laid out the
Vanderbilt, Goelet, and Lorillard estates at Newport, Rhode Island. and landscaped Colgate University.
In the early 1890s, South Carolina railroad aristocrat Patrick Calhoun hired Boston landscape architect
Ernest W. Bowditch to design Cleveland’s Euclid Heights Allotment. Bowditch had become known in
Cleveland for his design of Rockefeller Park and the adjacent Shaker Lakes Park. By 1892, the Heights
stood at the edge of the city's development and Bowditch designed the 365-acre Euclid Heights
neighborhood using gently curved streets and English-derived street names characteristic of the
Arts and Crafts movement, all set atop a dramatic natural bluff.
Calhoun planted as many as 50,000 trees on the land that Streator had stripped of its timber.In 1892,
The Plain Dealer advertisement for the subdivision touted it as having 'Beautiful Streets and Boulevards,
Grand View of Lake and Surrounding Country. Electric Railways, Fresh Air, Far From Smoke and Dust,
All the Conveniences of a Finished City.' The apartment buildings in Euclid Heights were constructed to
endure both in style and construction. Today, the brick structures stand as fine examples of 1910s and
1920s architecture and their efficiency, convenient location and stately appearance continue to attract r
esidents from all walks of life. The charm of these grand apartments has remained constant since their
construction over three-quarters of a century ago.
The Bowditch design for the Village Cemetery includes names for each of its paths. The area just
behind the church is called “Church Green” and its elevation was low to take the run off from the
church lot. It was also called a “rain garden.”
It might be fun to tour some of the Bowditch landscapes in Newport and in Brookline which include
Aspinwall and Boston University. And in Cleveland Rockefeller Park was added to the National
Register for its association with the late 19th and early 20th century recreation and parks movement,
and as an example of Victorian Picturesque landscape design. The design of the park is a major work
of Boston landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch (1849-1918). Responsible for the Cleveland Parks
Plan of 1894, Bowditch also planned Euclid Heights and Clifton Park in the Cleveland area, the town
of Tuxedo Park, NY, and estate grounds in Newport, RI.
Bowditch is one of many fine artists who contributed to the magic that is Unity Church. We still have
much to learn from his drawings.