Green Animals Topiary Garden

Aquidneck Island, where the garden sits, was the homeland of the Narragansett people, whose tribe continues in Rhode Island today, before English settlers established Portsmouth as one of the colony's earliest towns in 1638. The land later became farmland and country estates along the shore of the bay.

The estate was purchased in 1872 by Thomas Brayton, a Fall River businessman, as a summer country home. It was his gardener, Joseph Carreiro, and later Carreiro's son in law George Mendonca, who created and shaped the topiary over the first half of the twentieth century, patiently training privet, boxwood, and yew into animals and forms.

Brayton's daughter Alice inherited the estate and lived here for decades, delighting in the garden and naming it Green Animals for its living sculptures. She entertained guests among the topiary and made the garden the heart of the property.

On her death in the 1970s, Alice Brayton left the estate to the Preservation Society of Newport County, which has cared for it ever since, keeping the topiary clipped and the gardens flourishing so the public can enjoy this singular place.

The topiary collection includes more than eighty pieces, of which many are sculpted animals and birds. Among the favorites are a lumbering elephant, a camel, a giraffe, a bear, and various dogs and birds, alongside geometric forms, spirals, and arches clipped in crisp green.

Creating and keeping such shapes is painstaking work. The plants are grown over wire frames and trimmed again and again over many years to build up and maintain each form, so the garden represents decades of accumulated, skilled labor by its gardeners.

Around the topiary lie formal flower gardens, fruit trees, grape arbors, and a productive vegetable garden, all laid out in the manner of an old country estate. The mix of playful sculpture and traditional horticulture gives the garden its distinctive charm.

The white Victorian summer house at the center of the estate is open to visitors and displays a collection that includes a notable set of antique toys, offering a glimpse of the family who created and loved the garden.

The setting on a gentle slope above Narragansett Bay adds to the appeal, with glimpses of the water beyond the gardens and the easy, unhurried feel of a small country place rather than a grand mansion.

Because it is compact and welcoming, Green Animals is a favorite with families and gardeners alike, a place where children delight in spotting the animals and adults marvel at the craft that shapes them.

Spring wakes the garden as the shrubs leaf out and the flower beds and fruit trees bloom, though the topiary is still filling in after winter.

Summer is the fullest season, when the animals are lush and green, the flower gardens are at their peak, and the vegetable beds brim with produce.

Fall keeps the topiary in full leaf while the surrounding trees turn color, a beautiful and less crowded time to visit.

Winter reveals the bare frames and structure of the topiary and closes much of the season, though the garden's holiday events bring festive life to the estate.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.