Gardening is considered the most popular American hobby and more frequently considered the number one summer chore, performed alone. During the Gilded Age, many summer cottages had their own greenhouses, also called hothouses, located on site. Managed by a professional master gardener and a large staff, these structures sometimes exceeded the footprint of the family home for which they served. They provided the flowers for arrangements throughout every room of the house as well as shrubs and trees for the loggias, terraces and grounds.
Photograph of greenhouses at Rockhurst, Ledge Road. From Henry O. Havemeyer Collection, Newport Historical Society.