Tudor Place and its garden reflect the growth of the Federal City, Georgetown, and the nation — along with changes in the lives of the Peter family and the enslaved workers and servants who lived and worked here.  Stewarded through four owners of the Peter family, the gardens evolved from urban agricultural uses to recreational and ornamental purposes, changing along with the wider economy and culture.  The estate reflects a story of family continuity over 178 years, from 1805 to 1983.

The founders’ Georgetown was a center of the tobacco and slave trades as well as other forms of commerce in the thriving port town. The Peters were one of several wealthy families leaving the bustling, densely populated port area (a townhouse on K Street) – for newly built mansions on the Heights. From here, they enjoyed open views (now obscured by foliage) toward the harbor, the Potomac River, and across it, Virginia.

The Tudor Place landscape began with a combination of ornamental and agrarian uses, worked by an enslaved labor force, including the family’s enslaved gardener Will Twine, in the early years and later by a paid staff of gardeners. Some agricultural uses lasted into the 20th century. By 1960, when Armistead Peter 3rd inherited the site and became its last private owner, the garden was focused on purely recreational purposes.

With careful fidelity to their forebears, each Peter generation preserved original design elements as well as many of the earliest plantings, while adapting the landscape to their own needs. Consequently, unusual heirloom species dating back a century or more still thrive here, such as the Florentine tulips, grape varieties climbing the North Garden Arbor, and the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow forget-me-nots.