WESTFIELD — For the city of Westfield, Grandmothers’ Garden in Chauncey Allen Park is a space of beauty and quiet reflection, but few people know the history behind it. People will get the chance to learn more about it when Anne Wellington presents the thesis she wrote about the garden at the Westfield Athenaeum on Monday, Aug 19.
“At this point, I hope to inspire the community to treasure this garden and show them how important this garden is in the history of gardens in the United States of America,” explained Wellington. “It is a singularly unique garden which the community and greater region should treasure. My wish is to inspire a new generation of caretakers for the garden.”
Wellington began her work on “An Old-Fashioned Garden: The Story of Grandmothers’ Garden and Chauncey Allen Park” in the 1990s, when she was looking for a topic for her master’s thesis at the Radcliffe landscape design program.
“In 1996, Joan Corell, founding president of the Friends of Grandmothers’ Garden was given a box of documents from Elisabeth (Fowler) Avery,” recalled Wellington. “The treasure trove of documents included publications, letters, news articles, plans and more. An archive that rich rarely comes along, and I thought that this would be a wonderful way to both write the thesis and write a historical document recounting the history of the garden.”
Wellington reviewed the wealth of documents she’d received but also accessed archives and maps at City Hall, researched at libraries and spoke with many people to get the full story of the garden.
“In those days, I could go to the libraries at Harvard, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society had an extensive archive on gardens in their original headquarters at Horticultural Hall in Boston,” remembered Wellington. The original thesis formed the basis of a presentation Wellington gave at Magnolia Plantation, in Charleston, South Carolina, for its annual Historical Plant Symposium.
“The best thing about writing the original thesis was that the Friends [of the garden] could use the document and plans to hire Thomas Elmore, landscape architect of Sudbury, to draw the plans we needed to get the funding for the restoration. The main restoration was done in 1999 while I was president of the Friends,” explained Wellington.
Shortly after its completion, the thesis won an award from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
Albert Steiger, a Westfield businessman, presented Chauncey Allen Park to Westfield in 1930. Four years later, the city created Grandmothers’ Garden in a corner of the park as a living memorial to Steiger’s grandmother.
“The story is richly layered with many intriguing facets. Grandmothers’ Garden was a product of so many people across all walks of life and was in response to the historical forces of the times,” said Wellington. “I look forward to seeing so many people I have known, whose passion and dedication to the garden continues to this day.”
The reception for the work will be held in the Jasper Rand Art Gallery beginning at 5 p.m., one of several events happening this summer to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Grandmothers’ Garden. Those wishing to attend Wellington’s reception must register at westath.libcal.com/event/12355414.
For more information on the garden and other 90th anniversary events, visit www.grandmothersgarden.org.
