Fernwood: A Marian Cruger Coffin Garden Reimagined in Litchfield County, CT.
Based on Coffin’s Original Landscape Design, a New Garden Nods to Its Heritage.
November 19, 2025
By: Lisa Hurst
The South Side Garden Club of Long Island recently submitted “Fernwood” to the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America Collection. This 5-acre property in Litchfield County, CT, was purchased in 2002, with the owners valuing its heritage from garden architect Marian Cruger Coffin (1876-1957). Coffin’s clients included Fricks, Vanderbilts, and duPonts, who hired her to design the gardens at Winterthur.
Coffin designed Fernwood in 1910 as a summer retreat to complement the 1908 English Arts and Crafts-style house by architect Alfredo S.G. Taylor. Built on sloping terrain, the property became overgrown and filled with invasive plants, obscuring most of Coffin’s original design. Discovering the original planting plans in a 1922 issue of Country Life magazine was a breakthrough!
Restoration was painstaking. Seedlings were collected from existing privet hedges to preserve the original plant variety, and shrubbery was shaped into form. The square garden was recreated with a circular flower bed centered around a sundial replacing the original pool.
Arborvitae line the pathways, and benches or statuary at the ends of the vistas honor Coffin's vision of creating focal points along allées. The lower-level garden, intended but never executed, today features a 110-foot-long double border with a grass path, blending flowers and shrubs.
Thoughtfully redesigned and reimagined, Fernwood has evolved, striking a balance between historical accuracy and the current owners' preferences. It remains an intimate and well-maintained landscape that reflects Coffin's pioneering work in landscape architecture.
GCA’s Garden History & Design Committee fosters an appreciation for America’s gardens and documents today's gardens for tomorrow's gardeners in partnership with the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens.You can view the GCA Collection at https://sova.si.edu/record/aag.gca
Arborvitae line the pathways. A bench sits at the end of the vista.
Terraced gardens utilize the sloping terrain.
The two 110-foot shrub and perennial borders.
Images: CT239006, CT239010, CT239013, Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America Collection, Roger Mitchell (06) and Kindra Clineff (010, 013), photographers
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