Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate
Encyclopedia
Canton, Massachusetts
Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,561 at the 2010 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Boston.- History :...
. It is operated by The Trustees of Reservations
The Trustees of Reservations
The Trustees of Reservations is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the oldest regional land trust in the world and has 100,000 dues-paying members...
. The grounds are open every day, sunrise to sunset, without charge.
History
In 1902, Dr. Arthur Tracey Cabot (b. 1852 in Boston to Dr. Samuel Cabot III and Hannah Lowell Jackson Cabot) hired architect Charles A. PlattCharles A. Platt
Charles Adams Platt was a prominent artist, landscape gardener, landscape designer, and architect of the "American Renaissance" movement. His garden designs complemented his domestic architecture.-Early career:...
to design a country house with landscaping and outlying farm buildings. Its formal grounds include lawns, a walled garden
Walled garden
A walled garden is specifically a garden enclosed by high walls for horticultural rather than security purposes, though traditionally all gardens have been hedged about or walled for protection from animal or human intruders...
, and a parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
. Dr. Cabot had seven siblings, but no children. The estate was passed on to his niece, Eleanor Cabot (daughter of his brother, Godfrey Lowell Cabot
Godfrey Lowell Cabot
Godfrey Lowell Cabot was an American industrialist and philanthropist, who founded the Cabot Corporation.-Early life:...
), who married Major Ralph Bradley in 1919.
In 1945, she added ponds, a camellia
Camellia
Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...
house and greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
, and planted specimen trees. Additional land includes more than 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) of meadows and woods, with some 3 miles (4.8 km) of walking trails.