Marian Coffin Gardens at Gibraltar, Wilmington

Tucked behind the remnants of a once-grand mansion, the Marian Coffin Gardens at Gibraltar offer a rare example of early 20th-century landscape design restored with extraordinary care. Located in Wilmington, the gardens were originally commissioned in 1916 by Hugh Rodney Sharp and his wife, Isabella du Pont Sharp, and designed by Marian Cruger Coffin-one of the first professional female landscape architects in the United States. Coffin’s Italianate Beaux-Arts vision took shape as a series of ascending terraces lined with flower beds, classical statues, and formal walkways, anchored by marble staircases and framed by carefully placed architectural features.

Named after the British promontory, the Gibraltar estate was built in the 1840s and expanded over time by the Sharps. After decades of neglect and near-demolition in the late 20th century, the gardens were rescued and meticulously restored by Preservation Delaware beginning in 1999. Every detail, from plantings to flagstones, was reimagined in line with Coffin’s original plans. A former pool became a lotus pond, and the 1920s bald cypress avenue was fully restored.

Today, the Marian Coffin Gardens stand as one of the most faithful restorations of Coffin’s work, offering visitors a tranquil space to wander among seasonal blooms, architectural remnants, and stone sculptures gathered from around the world. Highlights include the teahouse, carriage house, and the looming, though unrestored, Gibraltar mansion-each contributing to the site’s layered historical atmosphere.

Open year-round from dawn to dusk and free to the public, the gardens serve both as a testament to Coffin’s pioneering legacy and a living example of preservation in action. Their continued existence offers a quiet yet powerful tribute to American landscape history and to one woman’s ability to shape beauty from structure, symmetry, and growth.