"Club members volunteered hundreds of hours in planning, overseeing and executing this project."
This year's Common Wealth Award winner is The Nansemond River Garden Club for: The Cedar Hill Project - The Heritage Garden Phase. They received a check for $4,150.00 at the Board of Governor's meeting banquet on Wednesday, October 18, 2006. To date, the club has invested $10,000 of its treasury in hiring an architectural historian, landscaping the main entrance of the cemetery, replacing cedar trees felled by Hurricane Isabel and creating a Scatter Garden for human ashes. The award funds will be used to add historic signage (including Braille) and fragrant plants to complete the garden.
Albemarle Garden Club received $3,000.00 as runner-up for Morea: A Living Botanical Classroom. The award will be used to restore the northeast border of the garden to create a screen. The planting will be a combination of evergreen and deciduous, with an emphasis on red berries for display. Two or three benches for visitors and faculty will also be placed in the garden.
Suffolk is in the midst of a major downtown revitalization effort. The Nansemond River Garden Club has participated with rejuvenation and beautification of Cedar Hill Cemetery, the only greenspace in the historic district.
The Heritage Garden with berried/fragrant native and Victorian era plants and assessable to the physically and sight impaired faces the river and hotel/convention center, providing an ideal location to highlight the history of Suffolk during colonial and Civil War periods.
The Cedar Hill Project, NRGC’s civic project since 2001, began with the club’s $10,000 investment to hire an architectural historian, landscape the Veterans’ Monument Alley, replace cedar trees felled by Hurricane Isabel, create a Scatter Garden for the deposit of human ashes, and participate in an archaeological dig in the cemetery.
Club members volunteered hundreds of hours in planning, overseeing and executing this project. Besides planting, they designed signage within the cemetery and brochures for self-guided walks, engaged students to make birdhouses and brochure stands, inspired other groups’ involvement: The Daughters of the Confederacy planted a Victorian garden near the scatter garden, using the guidelines of our consultant, urged City to apply for historic status: CHC was recently added to Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places and purchased a steel and iron bench with the 2005 Runner-up Common Wealth Award.
The implementation of the Heritage Garden, a legacy project for America’s 400th Anniversary, is a city-wide effort with many contributions and grants being given to NRGC. The receipt of the prestigious Common Wealth Award will complete this phase by the addition of signage and fragrant/berried plants.
