It is my joy and honor to be the Consulting Rosarian of the rose garden at Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Connecticut. Designed by Theodore Wirth, the park opened to the public in the spring of 1904. This makes ours the oldest municipal rose garden in the United States.

Because of additional purchase of land, the park now sits on 102 acres, but the original estate was 96 acres bequeathed to Charles Pond by his father around 1867. With the inheritance, there was a stipulation that the property was never to be sold. Charles and his wife Elizabeth proceeded to build a beautiful three story stone Victorian mansion, with big porticos on all four compass points, and a big circular drive out front.

The house was set way back from fashionable Prospect Avenue. In Victorian times, it was considered stylish to bring nature indoors. Hence, the floor to ceiling windows, the potted plants in front parlors, and the songbirds in gilded cages. Oriental carpets were in great demand with their many patterns and colors. It was popular at the time to try to recreate an Oriental carpet in the front gardens. Charles and Elizabeth succeeded in doing this. The Ponds were not rosarians. However, they were horticulturists and had greenhouses where they grew plants for the house and gardens.

Charles Pond was an entrepreneur, to begin with, a railroad baron for the Hartford-New Haven-New York Railroad. He also formed the Hartford Trust Company. His last position was Treasurer of the State of Connecticut. He also had many outside interests. He was especially fascinated with specimen trees, and had many unusual cultivars planted on his property which was known as Prospect Hill Farm.