The house was built about 1750 and is an architecturally interesting and unusual combination of gambrel and saltbox roof styles. In 1926, the famed English horticultural designer and writer was commissioned to plan an “old fashioned”” garden to enhance the newly created musuem. Gertrude Jekyll (pronounced jeek uhl) had a profound influence on modern garden design and is widely considered the greatest gardener of the 20th century.