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Orton Plantation Gardens :: Winnabow, North Carolina
In 1910, James and Luola Sprunt began the first plantings and development of a modest garden by planting live oak trees, arborvitae trees, and cedar trees. After James’ death in 1924, his son J. Laurence Sprunt and wife, Annie Gray, extended the gardens to Roger Moore’s graveyard with the help of Robert Swann Sturtevant, a landscape architect and friend who came down from Massachusetts to help in the winters. In the 1930’s and 1940’s they planted live oak trees, azaleas, camellias, flowering peach, daphne, hydrangeas, crepe myrtles, dogwoods, and colorful annuals. In the late 1930’s a cousin had a bad automobile accident so the gardens were opened to the public for a long weekend to help pay the medical bills. The gardens have remained open to the public ever since.
Churchill Bragaw contributed greatly to the planning and building of the gardens as manager for some years before World War II. After the death of Laurence Sprunt in 1973 and Annie Gray Sprunt in 1978, the ownership was shared by their three sons: Kenneth Murchison, Samuel Nash, and Laurence Gray Sprunt. Kenneth succeeded Bragaw as manager of the gardens after World War II until the mid 1990’s when Laurence bought the gardens from his brothers and continued the management.
In 2002, David Sprunt, son of Laurence Gray Sprunt, became manager of the gardens. He began extensive renovation in 2003 that continued through 2007. During the renovation large strides were taken to improve the overall look and feel of the gardens, which included: opening up panoramic views of the river, removing competing vegetation, enhancing and redesigning flower beds, restoring the colonial rice fields, and refurbishing the quality of the turf in and around the gardens. David Sprunt continues his family legacy by preserving the historic plantation and gardens to this day.
