John Morison’s grave<br />

John Morison's grave

In June 1776, John Morison arrived at Boston Harbor with the Seventy-First Highlanders regiment as British Army conscripts during the Revolutionary War. Upon his arrival in America, he was taken prisoner of war and ended up in Hadley, Massachusetts, at Forty Acres, where he spent the rest of his life as an indentured servant. 

Once at Forty Acres, John Morison was initially put to work in the fields. However, with his background as an ornamental gardener in Scotland, he eventually took responsibility for the gardens. Morison's North Garden was carefully planned and featured exotic flowers and crops, distinguishing it from typical gardens in Hadley, which were usually extensions of vegetable plots.

After the Revolutionary War, John Morison stayed at Forty Acres and was eventually considered to be a part of the extended Phelps family. Due to his trusted position and excellent gardening skills, he was able to request that family members purchase specific seeds from Boston. In 1789, Elizabeth wrote to her brother about Morison’s seed requests, and Charles Phelps followed up two years later. While living at Forty Acres, Morison’s “exclusive business was ornamental gardening,” but family letters indicate he struggled with alcoholism, which led to absences that frustrated them. Morison often napped on Mount Warner to recover, and today, visitors can find “John’s Rock,” a boulder where he would rest.

Morison lived the rest of his life with the family at Forty Acres and was eventually buried alongside family members in the Old Hadley Cemetery. After he died in 1815, Elizabeth Phelps noted the declining state of the gardens due to his absence, writing, “…Our gardens look like a forsaken place…”