Garden Plan of the Pillars

  • Creator: J.E. Wood, Jr.
  • Title: Garden Plan of the Pillars
  • Date: 1936
  • Description: This drawing of the "Garden Plan of the Pillars" was created by J.E. Wood, Jr. for the History of Homes and Gardens of Tennessee. It depicts a seven section garden that is numbered according to a key provided on the drawing.
  • Historical Note: John Houston Bills, a close friend and contemporary of President James K. Polk, added a wing and a second story to this house in the small town of Bolivar, Tennessee, which is located in lower West Tennessee, surrounded by plantation lands. He also designed the home's formal garden. During the Civil War, to which he was heartily opposed, he had cordial relations with Union officers passing through and occupying the town, even as his son in law, Marshall Polk, a nephew of James K. and Sarah Childress Polk, served with Confederate forces. He built a small cottage behind The Pillars, for his daughter Evalina Bills Polk, so that she could stay close to her family while her husband was away at war. While much of the garden is now gone, the stand of cedars, pictured in this plan, is visible today. Behind them would have been positioned the kitchen garden and vegetable fields.
  • Contributing Institution: Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only.
  • Digital Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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