SCHS / Photo of the Week , 3.22.25: “The Story of Louis Philippe ‘Shipwreck Rose'” | Celsiana Rose

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photo of the Week

— March 22, 2025 —

FROM THE SCHS LIBRARY & ARCHIVE

“How shall we know it is us without our past?”
– John Steinbeck

———————————

The Story of the Louis Philippe “Shipwreck Rose,” East Hampton, 1842. Louis Philippe, Bridgehampton, April 14, 1842, painting by François Joseph Frédéric Roux, Havre, 1843. (Image from the H.B. Squires Shipwrecks Collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society Library & Archive. Copyright © Suffolk County Historical Society. All rights reserved.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Story of the Louis Philippe “Shipwreck Rose,” East Hampton, 1842. Louis Philippe, Bridgehampton, April 14, 1842, painting by François Joseph Frédéric Roux, Havre, 1843. (Image from the H.B. Squires Shipwrecks Collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society Library & Archive. Copyright © Suffolk County Historical Society. All rights reserved.)

On April 14, 1842, the rigged packet ship Louis Philippe, on its way from Bordeaux, France, to New York City, was grounded at Mecox Beach in Bridgehampton. The ship’s deck cargo of linden trees, shrubs, and rosebushes was thrown overboard to lighten the load so that the salvage tugs could free the ship by hauling it into deeper water. All of the passengers were saved and the ship itself was eventually salvaged.

As the cargo washed up on shore that day, local East Hampton Town residents on the beach gathered the horticultural specimens from France and planted many of the trees, shrubs, and rosebushes throughout the town. Some of the elm trees that stood along Main Street in East Hampton until the 1938 hurricane blew them down were reportedly from the Louis Philippe shipwreck. 

———————————-

 

Probably the most wonderful and long-lasting gift the Louis Philippe brought to East Hampton in 1842 is an old garden rose known locally as the “Shipwreck Rose” (or “East Hampton Rose” or “Louis Philippe Rose”), which continues to thrive in East Hampton gardens today. A very fragrant and winter hardy, once-blooming light pink rose with lovely yellow stamens, the original specimen of the Shipwreck Rose has been passed down by cuttings or transplants for many generations of East Hampton gardeners. Today we know the Shipwreck Rose is actually a Dutch damask rose named ‘Celsiana’, bred in the Netherlands in the early 1700s and introduced in France in c. 1812; it was named after Jacque-Martin Cels, a French nursery grower.

With the arrival of spring, if you happen to see ‘Celsiana’ in bloom in East Hampton or elsewhere in May or June, do take the time to stop, savor its beauty, and smell its intoxicating damask fragrance. 

‘Celsiana’ — (photo by the author): Light pink, golden-yellow stamens, ages to white. Strong, damask fragrance. Average diameter 2.75″.  Semi-double (9-16 petals), cluster-flowered, in small clusters bloom form.  Once-blooming spring or summer. Upright. Height of 3′ to 6′.  Width of 3′ to 5′. Hardy in USDA zones 4b to 9b. Vigorous. Spreads by runners.

———————————-