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Gardens galore at the US legation to Seoul
Posted : 2021-05-09 09:23
Updated : 2021-05-09 17:54
The American and British legations of Seoul, circa 1890s. The Moffett Collection courtesy of Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA
By Robert Neff
A rose by any other name ― Rose Foote, circa 1880s. Robert Neff CollectionIn the 1890s, the American legation was rather dismal when compared to its peers. The British and Russian representatives were housed in large new buildings, modern and imposing, while the American representative was forced to make do in the original Korean buildings that were already on the land when it was purchased the previous decade. The American compound s buildings were fairly run down and often had to be repaired ― and while they may have been looked upon with somewhat embarrassment by the American community in Seoul, they were proud of the American legation s extensive gardens.
By Robert Neff
In the fall of 1884, George C. Foulk, an American naval ensign assigned to the American legation in Seoul, undertook an extensive tour through the southern part of the Korean peninsula. His observations ― carefully recorded in minute detail in his travel journals and letters home ― provide some of the best and earliest English descriptions of the regions outside of Seoul.
On the morning of December 4, 1884, Foulk was rather tired. He had spent the previous evening in a bed bug infested inn and had slept very poorly. As he and his party trudged on towards the town of Miryang (their destination), they encountered large numbers of people returning home from the large fair or market that had been held in the town on the previous day.