By Tovah Martin

Paradise sits on the crest of Pugsley Hill Road in Amenia. Walls of deftly sheared yew and arborvitae rise to the skies, pillows of clipped topiary flow one into the next, tunnels of beech arch overhead while fuchsia baskets shower their blossoms beside a water rill. It’s seriously divine. But to experience Wethersfield as Chauncey Devereaux Stillman—the landscape’s original owner—would prefer, you go through hell first.

Actually, Wethersfield’s version of the Underworld is totally delightful and exhilarating. The carriage path through the estate’s manicured outer woodland threads past a massive stone Centaur (carved of a single stone), Diana, Hercules, and several other larger-than-life statues lurking at strategic points in Stillman’s rendition of Purgatory. Although Stillman’s grandfather was the founder of what became Citibank and Chauncey led the privileged life of the very wealthy, Stillman’s youth was punctuated by grief with the rapid fire loss of his parents and brother. At the age of 30, he purchased several hundred bucolic acres in Amenia. Initially, he focused on beautifying the acreage around the house, hiring landscape architect Bryan Lynch to lay out a series of beds around the house. Later, after returning from WWII to more family hardship, Stillman hired landscape architect Evelyn Poehler and his approach took a darker turn. That’s when he plumbed his inner Classicist and created the series of paths further from the house based on Dante’s Inferno and Purgatorio. What ensued was all divine.

Even with Toshi Yano, Wethersfield’s Director of Horticulture, as a tour guide explaining the weighty allegorical meaning of each stern statue, you still feel a heady sense of wonder while threading through Wethersfield’s woods. You certainly experience nothing remotely akin to Dante’s concentric circles of torment. However, you are set up for a rush of awe and appreciation upon arrival at the house with its lush, manicured gardens, just as Stillman would have wanted. The heightened experience is not only about the garden rooms and their horticultural confection. The original property included extensive farmland as a precocious experiment in conservation agriculture. Striping Smithfield Valley and the rolling hills below Wethersfield lie a series of neatly cultivated farm fields that rival any rousing view in the world. Having grown more majestic with time, they form a frame around the garden. No matter where you look, magnificence can be seen.

None of this is lost on Toshi Yano, who has clearly immersed himself in all things Wethersfield. He is superbly expert in preparing visitors for the quickening of the pulse that the mature gardens are capable of imparting. As you weave your way through the larger-than-life vistas, Yano points out projects and explains how the garden has evolved. Each step has been carefully weighed, every plant selection is achieved through thoughtful consideration. The past is honored, but Wethersfield’s future is also clearly in view. Interns have been hired to tend the grounds and take projects under their wing, including the cutting garden which once furnished flowers for the house. That cutting garden now holds harmonious, colorful plantings that delight pollinators while plantings around the house also feature plant selections influenced by current understandings about ecology. Additionally, a grant has been won from the Garden Conservancy to commission Patricia O’Donnell of Heritage Landscapes to create a Cultural Landscape Report. This guidance will help shape Wethersfield’s future restoration and preservation.

Not many historic landscapes are as forward-thinking as Wethersfield. When conservationist and philanthropist Chauncey Stillman passed away in 1989 it was his wish to leave his estate to the public. Now, everyone is the beneficiary. Wethersfield is open June through September. —wethersfield.org