History is a feast for all the senses in North Carolina, and one of our favorite places to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of antiquity is in the state's heritage gardens.
Breezes perfumed by aromatic herbs and camellias transport you back to the time of the first settlers on our coast. Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo recreates the courtly style brought over by our English ancestors. And while there on Roanoke Island you can hear the story of the Lost Colony, America's first unsolved mystery.
Down the coast near Wilmington is Orton Plantation Gardens. Set on the banks of the Cape Fear River, this serene garden evokes memories of the ante-bellum South. Experience another South at nearby Fort Fisher, one of the last strongholds of the Confederacy.
New Bern is a visual feast of color and texture of historic proportions. Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens feature a range from formal knot gardens and pragmatic kitchen gardens to wilderness gardens. Step back to 1768, the time of the royal governors, by visiting the restored governor's residence and first permanent capitol of the colony.
Moving into the Heartland, the gardens take on a more primeval feel. Sarah P. Duke Gardens on the campus of Duke University features a display of more than 900 native species of plants. Here, and at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, the indigenous plants remind you of our more than 10,000-year human history.
Continuing our westward journey, we come to Old Salem where you'll see exact replicas of gardens planted by Moravian settlers in the 1760s. Beyond the garden walls, you'll walk under native trees and cultivars of old fruit trees and beside fences adorned with vines. The town of Old Salem was established in 1766, and today you can feel the presence of its settlers as you walk through this authentic restoration.
Our last stop on this trip is Asheville, where we find America's largest private home, Biltmore Estate®. Famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted combined formal pattern flower beds, azaleas, roses, flowering trees and bulbs to beautify George Vanderbilt's turn-of-the-century chateau.
So, whether your tastes run to the formal and manicured, or to the natural, your best vacation in history may begin in North Carolina's heritage gardens.