View source for Verdmont

{{Infobox NT
|name=Verdmont
|territory=Bermuda
|village=Smith's Parish
|picture=VERDMONT, SMITH'S PARISH, BERMUDA.jpg
|picture caption=Verdmont
|latitude=
|longitude=
|address=6 Verdmont Lane,<br/>off Collectors Hill
|type=Plantation house
|built=around 1710
|client=John Dickinson
|garden=yes
|website=[http://www.bnt.bm/map-of-trust-properties/22-featured-properties/150-verdmont-historic-house-and-gardens Verdmont - House & Gardens]
}}
'''Verdmont''' is a eighteenth century plantation house in [[Smith's Parish]] in [[Bermuda]].  Architecturally it is one of the most fascinating old houses in Bermuda, and it is today it is operated as a museum in the care of the [[Bermuda National Trust]].

The house is built in a rare transitional style, retaining some of the aspects of 17th century dwellings, while anticipating the classicism of the Georgian mansions of the 18th century. Rare too is its having remained almost unchanged structurally for 300 years.

The house is listed as part of Bermuda's "African Diaspora Heritage Trail", part of UNESCO's  Slave Route Project.<ref name=ADHT>{{cite web|title=African Diaspora Heritage Trail |url=http://www.gotobermuda.com/uploadedFiles/GetHere/MapsAndBrochures/SubContent/ADHT.pdf|publisher=African Diaspora Heritage Trail|accessdate=14 February 2013}}</ref> 

==History==
[[File:VERDMONT SLAVE QUARTERS, SMITH PARISH, BERMUDA.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Slave quarters]]
In the 17th century, before the house was built, the property belonged to John Sayle, who left Bermuda for South Carolina and became its first governor.

Verdmont, the house standing toady, was built by John Dickinson who was a shipowner and was the speaker of Bermuda's House of Assembly from 1707 to 1710.<ref name=From>{{cite book|title=Frommer's Bermuda 2012|year=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118141465|pages=224|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aFXGI8us4QwC&pg=PT134#v=onepage&q&f=false|author=Darwin Porter|author2=Danforth Prince |accessdate=15 February 2013}} p. 134</ref>  Among its later owners was the painter and judge John Green. Dickinson owned six slaves, lodged in the house, though by the end of the century the new owner had fourteen slaves.

The house has four large chimneys and contains collections of antique Bermuda cedarwood furniture, Bermuda portraits, and English and Chinese porcelain.<ref name=BNT/>

[[File:VERDMONT - INTERIOR VIEW.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Interior]]
==Displays==
The house contains an extensive collection of antiques including Bermuda-made cedar furniture, portraits, British and Chinese porcelain and a child's nursery.

The attic, or garret, on the third floor currently houses the display "Verdmont: A House and Its People", which describes the architecture of the house and tells the story of those who lived here, and those who worked here too.  It includes a small archaeological exhibit.

==Gardens==
The gardens contain an assortment of herbs, old roses and fruit trees and other plants cultivated in the 18th century.<ref name=MR>{{cite web|title=Museum Register|url=http://www.museumregister.com/bermuda/verdmont.html|accessdate=14 February 2013}}</ref><ref name=BNT>{{cite web|title=Museums & Historic Buildings, Verdmont|url=http://www.bnt.bm/Places_to_Visit/verdmont_museum.php|publisher=Bermuda National Trust|accessdate=14 February 2013}}</ref>  

Th gardens provide a sweeping view of South Shore, which is a spectacular vista.

==Outside links==
{{Commons}}
*[http://www.bnt.bm/Places_to_Visit/verdmont_museum.htm Museum website]
*[http://www.bnt.bm/Places_to_Visit/documents/BNTnewsOctober07_001.pdf Verdmont at 50], special edition of  Trust News, Bermuda National Trust, 2007.

==References ==
{{reflist}}