Appleford/Parsons-Banks Arboretum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Appleford/Parsons-Banks Arboretum (24 acres) is a non-profit arboretum and country estate located at 770 Mount Moro Road, Villanova, Pennsylvania.
Appelford began in 1682 with William Penn's grant of 100 acres (0.40 km²) to James Moore. In 1728 Robert Jones erected a one-story stone farmhouse on the site, parts of which still stand. The house was enlarged and updated over the years, and the property grew to be as large as 800 acres (3.2 km²) before it was broken up circa 1900. Today's estate was created in the 1920s by landscape architect Thomas Sears and architect R. Brognard Okie, and contains the furniture and collections of its last owners, Lewis and Anabel Parsons. Mrs. Parsons subsequently donated the property to Lower Merion Township.
Today the arboretum contains streams, woods, rhododendron stands, stone walls, and a series of formal gardens.
