Historical Timeline

1842: The gardens on the site are planted by William Alexander Graham and his wife, Susan Washington Graham, who consulted Thomas Paxton, landscape gardener for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, on the layout of gardens and planting of trees. William Alexander Graham served North Carolina as both Governor and Senator and was Secretary of the Navy under President Millard Fillmore. Montrose becomes the home to three generations of the Graham family

1890: The current main house is built on the site of two houses previously destroyed by fire. Several of the original outbuildings from the 1840s are still in place today, including William Alexander Graham's law office, the kitchen, the smokehouse and the barn

1977: The 61-acre property is bought by Nancy Goodwin and her husband, Craufurd, professor of economics at Duke University, who not only maintain the gardens but greatly expand the plantings

1984: Nancy Goodwin begins operating the Montrose Nursery on the site. The New York Times calls it "one of the best small mail-order sources of rare and unusual plants in the country"

1993: Mrs. Goodwin closes the nursery to devote herself full-time to her gardens

2001: Montrose is added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Goodwins place a conservation easement on 50 acres of the property, including forested land along the Eno River, with the Triangle Land Conservancy

2003: The Garden Conservancy designates Montrose a Preservation Project and begins to assist the Goodwins in planning its preservation as a public garden and house museum

2005: Duke University Press publishes Nancy Goodwin's chronicle of a year in her gardens, Montrose Life in a Garden. In it she writes, "This place is my life and its gardens my obsession."