The Oaks: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

Regions 1, 2, & 4 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Inventory Unit Description: The Oaks includes the 2.5 acres the NPS acquired around Booker T. and Margaret Murray Washington’s former residence during the establishment of Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. The site is located in Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site in Tuskegee, Alabama, on West Montgomery Road (Alabama State Highway 126). (Tuskegee University maps and Historic American Building Survey drawings refer to this route as “Old Montgomery Road.”) The principal landscape features at The Oaks are The Oaks (the brick residence of the Washingtons), ruins of an outbuilding, walkways, historic plantings, lawn areas, and a visitor parking lot area. Remnants of the historic landscape include elements designed by renowned landscape architect David A. Williston. There is a shared NPS and Tuskegee University parking area east of The Oaks. This parking lot is outside the 2.5-acre project boundary, but the report addressed the perimeter of the lot and the streetscape along West Montgomery Road in the context of visitor access to the site and site integrity. The period of significance for this landscape at The Oaks is 1899 to 1929. The Oaks is the historic residence of Booker T. Washington, the first president of Tuskegee Institute and his wife Margaret Murray Washington, a prominent leader in the Progressive Era women’s club movement. Completed in 1899, the house was Dr. Washington’s residence until his death in 1915. The building consists of locally sourced materials manufactured by students as part of their vocational training. During the time the Washingtons lived at the property, The Oaks received many influential visitors and patrons of the school, including numerous prominent businessmen, politicians, and two US Presidents. The Washingtons commissioned David A. Williston to design the landscape including a carriage trail, planting beds, and a rustic summerhouse at the rear of the property. Williston was the first African American graduate of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and the first African American to own and operate a landscape architecture firm in the US. George Washington Carver also assisted the Washington family in selecting appropriate plants for the landscape. Following the death of Dr. Washington in 1915, the residence remained in the family. Margaret Murray Washington remained at the house until her death in 1925. With her oversight, changes at The Oaks included the removal of the carriage house and construction of a brick garage. In the mid-1920s, David Williston’s design for the roads on campus informed a new layout for the carriage drive and walkways at the Oaks. This revised circulation design featured Williston’s typical campus roadway details including concrete valley gutters with drop inlets. The contributing cultural landscape features at The Oaks at Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site support site’s integrity of location, setting, and association. The historic Queen Anne style residence retains its original materials, workmanship, and design. There are historic trees and carriage trail details remaining from Williston’s design for The Oaks. The loss of character-defining secondary structures, small-scale features, and vegetation detracts from the site’s overall integrity of feeling and design. However, the remaining historic landscape features at The Oaks combined with their well-documented association with prominent historic figures convey a sense of the landscape’s historic identity. The condition of the existing historic landscape features at The Oaks range from fair to good. Overall, the condition of the landscape is fair.

The Oaks: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

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