Cultivating Friends: The Clairmont and Furley Nursery
Remnants of this notable 19th century nursery are still present in the yards and gardens of Northeast Baltimore to this day.
The Clairmont Nursery, located on the south bank of Herring Run across from Furley Hall, was started in 1828 by Robert Sinclair, a member of the Baltimore Monthly Meeting of Friends. In 1829, Sinclair advertised in The American Farmer: “his ambition leads him to endeavor to make his nursery to Maryland what Prince’s is to New York: its pride and boast.” The Prince family of Flushing, Queens were pioneers of American horticulture who first began cultivating fruit trees in the early 1700s, establishing a major commercial enterprise by the nineteenth century. Sinclair was setting his sights high indeed.
Sinclair was active in the horticultural community before the official opening of his nursery. A family legend holds that when the Marquis de Lafayette visited Baltimore in 1824, he was given a reception at the old Town Hall, where he was presented with a variety of horticultural displays. Robert Sinclair won the floral display contest, and was presented with a silver cup and two silver medals by Lafayette himself.
In the years that followed, Sinclair cultivated fruit and ornamental trees, flowering shrubs, roses, and greenhouse-grown plants. One such, The Baltimore Monstrous Pippin, was an enormous apple variety described in Sinclair’s 1836 Nursery Catalog as weighing almost two pounds and measuring nearly a foot in diameter.
In 1848, Sinclair sold his nursery to his son-in-law William Corse, who expanded the operation to include the nearby Furley Hall property. The business continued as the Clairmont & Furley Hall Nursery until William Corse passed away in 1869.
Although the nursery has vanished beneath the modern communities of Belair-Edison and Parkside, many of the ornamental plants and trees originally cultivated and sold there may survive in the communities of Northeast Baltimore. Sinclair and Corse grew and sold Catalpa, Weeping Ash, Mulberry, and Fringe trees, as well as a variety of evergreens and other long-lived plants that are present in the yards and gardens of Northeast Baltimore to this day.
Sources:
Bevan, Edith Rossiter (1950). Gardens and Gardening in Early Maryland. In Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 45 No 4, Winter 1950, pp. 243-270. Baltimore, MD.
Boblitz, Katherine. 1916. “Picturesque Gardenville: Rose-Bowered Homes.” Baltimore Sun, May 28, 1915. Baltimore, Maryland.
Forman, H. C. (1956). Tidewater Maryland: Architecture and Gardens. New York: NY: Architectural Book Publishing Company.
Bevan, Edith Rossiter (1950). Gardens and Gardening in Early Maryland. In Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 45 No 4, Winter 1950, pp. 243-270. Baltimore, MD.
Pinkett, Harold T. The “American Farmer”: A Pioneer Agricultural Journal, 1819-1834. In Agricultural History, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 1950. Duke University Press.
Sinclair, Robert (1936). Catalogue of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs and plants, cultivated at the Clairmont Nurseries and Seed Garden: with cursory remarks and suggestions, on the advantage of making timely preparation for planting fruit trees, and the proper method of planting and taking care of them and other plants. Also, a table showing the time to sow or plant the seeds of esculent vegetables. Baltimore, MD. https://archive.org/details/catalogueoffruit1836clai/mode/2up
Remnants of this notable 19th century nursery are still present in the yards and gardens of Northeast Baltimore to this day.
The Clairmont Nursery, located on the south bank of Herring Run across from Furley Hall, was started in 1828 by Robert Sinclair, a member of the Baltimore Monthly Meeting of Friends. In 1829, Sinclair advertised in The American Farmer: “his ambition leads him to endeavor to make his nursery to Maryland what Prince’s is to New York: its pride and boast.” The Prince family of Flushing, Queens were pioneers of American horticulture who first began cultivating fruit trees in the early 1700s, establishing a major commercial enterprise by the nineteenth century. Sinclair was setting his sights high indeed.
Sinclair was active in the horticultural community before the official opening of his nursery. A family legend holds that when the Marquis de Lafayette visited Baltimore in 1824, he was given a reception at the old Town Hall, where he was presented with a variety of horticultural displays. Robert Sinclair won the floral display contest, and was presented with a silver cup and two silver medals by Lafayette himself.
In the years that followed, Sinclair cultivated fruit and ornamental trees, flowering shrubs, roses, and greenhouse-grown plants. One such, The Baltimore Monstrous Pippin, was an enormous apple variety described in Sinclair’s 1836 Nursery Catalog as weighing almost two pounds and measuring nearly a foot in diameter.
In 1848, Sinclair sold his nursery to his son-in-law William Corse, who expanded the operation to include the nearby Furley Hall property. The business continued as the Clairmont & Furley Hall Nursery until William Corse passed away in 1869.
Although the nursery has vanished beneath the modern communities of Belair-Edison and Parkside, many of the ornamental plants and trees originally cultivated and sold there may survive in the communities of Northeast Baltimore. Sinclair and Corse grew and sold Catalpa, Weeping Ash, Mulberry, and Fringe trees, as well as a variety of evergreens and other long-lived plants that are present in the yards and gardens of Northeast Baltimore to this day.
Sources:
Bevan, Edith Rossiter (1950). Gardens and Gardening in Early Maryland. In Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 45 No 4, Winter 1950, pp. 243-270. Baltimore, MD.
Boblitz, Katherine. 1916. “Picturesque Gardenville: Rose-Bowered Homes.” Baltimore Sun, May 28, 1915. Baltimore, Maryland.
Forman, H. C. (1956). Tidewater Maryland: Architecture and Gardens. New York: NY: Architectural Book Publishing Company.
Bevan, Edith Rossiter (1950). Gardens and Gardening in Early Maryland. In Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 45 No 4, Winter 1950, pp. 243-270. Baltimore, MD.
Pinkett, Harold T. The “American Farmer”: A Pioneer Agricultural Journal, 1819-1834. In Agricultural History, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 1950. Duke University Press.
Sinclair, Robert (1936). Catalogue of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs and plants, cultivated at the Clairmont Nurseries and Seed Garden: with cursory remarks and suggestions, on the advantage of making timely preparation for planting fruit trees, and the proper method of planting and taking care of them and other plants. Also, a table showing the time to sow or plant the seeds of esculent vegetables. Baltimore, MD. https://archive.org/details/catalogueoffruit1836clai/mode/2up
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