Brentwood has been well-known for its lovely landscaping since the era of Modern Times. The village has always been full of trim hedges, beautiful gardens, and magnificent trees. Mrs. Jenkins, an early pioneer resident, brought many ornamental evergreens from Ohio. In the 1860s,many residents planted arborvitae hedges that became a noted village feature. Henry Edger and James D. Blacker saw an opportunity and established nurseries. In his 1873 history of Suffolk County, Richard M. Bayles wrote, “Several nurseries and similar enterprises have been established here and for these the village is noted to a greater extent than any other in the country”. A visitor said, “The luxuriant nurseries with their sturdy products in the shape of shade trees, ornamental trees and shrubs, attract attention both before we come to the place and for miles beyond”.

Elijah F. Richardson owned another famous local nursery. He came here on the advice of Dr. Edgar F. Peck, who gave him a favorable report on the soil and climate. Richardson bought land north of the railroad track and west of Washington Avenue, where he then planted a large and extensive nursery of “fruit, street, and ornamental trees, flowering shrubs, roses, grape vines, and hedge plants”. This became the largest and most successful nursery in the village around 1860, Richardson set aside an acre of land “at the northwest corner of my farm” for a cemetery. A few burials were held there over the next 25 years. In 1893,the cemetery was incorporated and turned into a successful business. E.D. Putney took over Richardson’s nursery after his death. Henry H. Hall later had a nursery west of Washington Avenue and “extending back into the woods”.

-N. Ziino, Local History Room Newsletter, November 2010