Locust Grove belonged to Samuel F.B. Morse, the 19th century artist and inventor of the Morse Code. Morse was Professor of the Literature of the Arts and Design at New York University and founder of the university's Graduate School of Art History and a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Locust Grove was designed by Morse with help from Andrew Jackson's friend, Alexander Jackson Davies. It is a romantic and picturesque landscape design with flower gardens, a small lake, coves, and wooded areas.