Estate and Arboretum
Both the town of Wellesley (founded 1881) and Wellesley College (chartered 1870) are named for Hunnewell's estate, "Wellesley", which he named for the family of his wife, Isabella Pratt Welles. The estate includes a prominent 1852 house and attached conservatory (greenhouse), Walter Hunnewell Arboretum, pinetum, a complex of specialty greenhouses, and one of the first topiary gardens - the 'Italian Garden' - in America, all of which are still standing.
The estate is part of the Hunnewell Estates Historic District, which includes the estates of many of his descendants. Among other miscellaneous activities, Hunnewell owned the home in which Horatio Alger's father lived until his death, now called the Horatio Alger House in Natick, Massachusetts. Oliver Bacon had built this house about 1824, and sold it in 1869 to Hunnewell. In 1909, Hunnewell deeded the property to the First Unitarian Church of South Natick as a parsonage.
Read more about this topic: H. H. Hunnewell