Listen to a short description of this ghost garden, Bernard M'Mahon's seedhouse, and then scroll down to see what used to be here on the site where you are now standing.
Nurserymen like M'Mahon played a vital role in the late 1700s and early 1800s in distributing plants, trees, spices, and horticultural knowledge around the world. But what did Bernard M'Mahon's shop look like?
There are no images of how 2nd Street appeared during the years M'Mahon was in business (1807 to the early 1830s), but there are some that let us peek into his neighborhood. William Birch’s 1800 engraving of 2nd Street north of Market, below, shows the view as it might have appeared looking north from M’Mahon’s door during the store’s early years. To see how this streetscape appears now, walk to the intersection of Black Horse Alley and 2nd St. and look north, towards Market. (Click here to see this vista in 1960 and 2000 as well.)
Nurserymen like M'Mahon played a vital role in the late 1700s and early 1800s in distributing plants, trees, spices, and horticultural knowledge around the world. But what did Bernard M'Mahon's shop look like?
There are no images of how 2nd Street appeared during the years M'Mahon was in business (1807 to the early 1830s), but there are some that let us peek into his neighborhood. William Birch’s 1800 engraving of 2nd Street north of Market, below, shows the view as it might have appeared looking north from M’Mahon’s door during the store’s early years. To see how this streetscape appears now, walk to the intersection of Black Horse Alley and 2nd St. and look north, towards Market. (Click here to see this vista in 1960 and 2000 as well.)
The 1862 photograph, below, of Chestnut above Second was taken around the corner from where M’Mahon’s business was located. While M'Mahon's store was gone by that point, barely visible mid-block is a sign for David Landreth's seed store (look for the small curved sign to the right of the second awning that reads "Seeds.") Landreth opened his first seed store in 1784; the company is still in existence. To see this view now, walk south along Second to the corner of Chestnut and Second and look west, toward 3rd St.; this photograph shows the north side of the street.
Yet another neighborhood seed and plant seller was located just a block to the east of M'Mahon's former location in the 20th century. The 1953 photograph, below, of Front Street shows the Robert Buist Company, as well as how these blocks looked when this part of Old City was a thriving industrial and commercial district. Robert Buist Sr. (1805-1880) is credited with introducing the poinsetta to the United States; his son Robert continued the business and died a millionaire. To see how this block appears now, walk east on either Chestnut or Market to Front St., cross to the east side of the street, and look at the west side. These buildings, on the west side of the street, were close to the intersection of Front and Market.
Image credits: Top: William Birch, Second Street North of Market, American Philosophical Society. Middle: Chestnut Street, north side above 2nd, Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Bottom: 6-8-10-12 Front Street, City of Philadelphia Department of Records, PhillyHistory.org. iPhone with GPS users: visit PhillyHistory.org's mobile site to find additional images of your current location.
Want to revisit this page later or view the pages for all the sites that are part of Ghost Gardens, Lost Landscapes? Click here. Ghost Gardens explores lost, vanished, or forgotten Philadelphia gardens, landscapes, and animals related to those showcased in Of Elephants and Roses, an exhibition by the American Philosophical Society Museum on view until December 31, 2011 (admission is free). Ghost Gardens was funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program. Ghost Gardens was created by Erin McLeary and is maintained by the American Philosophical Society Museum.
