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De Hart Botanical Gardens
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Welcome to the De Hart Botanical Gardens
Location
The gardens border US 401 on the east side, 5.5 miles south of Louisburg and 0.5 miles north of Royal Crossroads.
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Hours
The gardens are open to the public from sunrise to sunset.
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Acreage
There are 92 acres, a residence, museum, and structures for storage of botanical equipment.
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Emphasis
The gardens include preserved forestation and an open area with a lake that protect a wide range of botanical species. The gardens are also available to the public for hiking, weddings, educational sessions, 5K runs, community concerts, and picnicking.
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History
The De Hart Botanical Gardens is part of the former Myrtle Timberlake Plantation estate. Its colonial ancestral history is traced to a former land grant by Charles II of England. Records show that Richard Timberlake and his wife Mary owned considerable land in this area in 1789. One of their descendants was Julius P. Timberlake. He and his wife Martha acquired more than 2,000 acres and lived in the Rose Hill Plantation, a columned mansion with Georgian/Federalist design, located about one mile south of Louisburg on US 401. At Julius' death in 1901, his daugher Myrtle received 304.5 acres, mainly in the northeast of the Royal Crossroad. Foundations of the Myrtle Timberlake home remain on the De Hart Gardens' grounds and can be seen on a spur trail for the Waterfall Trail.