The Tyler Family Garden was dedicated April 30th 2004 as part of a $5 million endowment gift to the College from Harrison Ruffin and Frances Payne Bouknight Tyler “in honor of the Tyler family legacy at the College of William and Mary.” Harrison Ruffin Tyler is the son of Lyon Gardner Tyler and descendant of John Tyler (1790-1862) and John Tyler, Sr. (1747-1813). Harrison Ruffin Tyler graduated from William and Mary in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and would later graduate from Virginia Polytechnic institute in 1951 with bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. Following the renaming movement at William and Mary in 2020, the College’s History Department changed its namesake from the “Lyon Gardner Tyler Department of History” to the “Harrison Ruffin Tyler Department of History.”

Like the Tyler Family Garden, most iconography on William and Mary's campus are recent additions, commissioned by either the College itself, alumnae, or in the case of the Jefferson Statue, by the University of Virginia. What distinguishes the Tyler Family Garden from other examples of iconography on campus is its connection to living descendants of the depicted figures. The Tyler Family Garden serves as a physical representation of the Tyler Family’s direct involvement with the College. In effect, it reminds onlookers that the College of William and Mary is inseparable from the Tyler Family, as their histories are often one and the same.

All three Tylers (and their descendants) commemorated in the Garden attended the College of William and Mary to varying degrees, during varying periods of American history. John Tyler, Sr. (1747-1813) studied law at the College and subsequently established a private practice law practice in Charles City County. John Tyler, Sr. lived in Charles City County on the Greenway Plantation, built around 1776. A reconstruction of Virginia’s tax records in 1787 – in lieu of the 1790 and 1800 censuses, which have since been destroyed – states that Tyler enslaved twenty Black adults and fourteen Black children. An enslaved workforce of this size categorizes Tyler within the planter class, the agrarian arm of American gentry. Profit turned from Greenway Plantation supported John Tyler, Sr., and his family. Like many members of the American Gentry, enslaving a workforce excused Tyler, Sr., from a life of labor and allowed him to pursue a career in politics. John Tyler, Sr., served as a delegate in Virginia’s House of Delegates from 1777-1778 and as Speaker of the House of Delegates from 1781-1784. His position in these offices overlapped his appointment as a judge in Virginia’s High Court of Admiralty (1776-1788) and his membership on the Virginia Council of State (1780-1781). In 1788, Tyler, Sr., became the vice-president of the convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution and was appointed Judge of the General Court of Virginia. Tyler also served as Governor of Virginia from 1808 until 1811. He was elected to the senate in 1811, his last office before his death in 1813.

Like his father, John Tyler (1790-1862) was a planter and politician who received his education at William and Mary. Tyler was raised on the Greenway Plantation, then at the age of twelve entered William and Mary’s preparatory school. He graduated at the university level at seventeen and studied law in the following two years. Once again following in his father’s footsteps, Tyler created his own private law practice in 1811, the same year he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, marking a long career in politics that culminated in his 1841 presidential appointment. Tyler purchased Sherwood Forest plantation the following year, where he resided until his death in 1862. After presidency, Tyler was elected to William and Mary's Board of Visitors in 1845, and served as chancellor from 1859-1862.