If you’ve taken a stroll through Davis Park, noticed the window boxes in downtown Charleston, enjoyed the thousand daffodils covering an entire side of Spring Hill Cemetery, or relaxed on a bench in Ruffner Park, then have It benefits from the silent efforts of the Kanawha Garden Club, which entered its second century last week.
“Four women sat on the porch of the house now owned by Brooks and Bobby McCabe on Staunton Road in 1921. And they decided to start a garden club, ”said Jennie Ferretti, club historian and former club president.
She rattled off the names: Julie Staunton Clay, Louise Schoonmaker Chilton, Margaret Ward McCabe – who eventually became the grandmother of the Civil Service Commissioner and former lawmaker of Brooks McCabe, and Caroline Staunton Hill.
Handwritten minutes of the very first meeting of the Kanawha Garden Club on June 23, 1921.
“They were all young. You were in your twenties, ”she added.
They were friends, the wives of some of the more prominent citizens of the Kanawha Valley at the time. And one of them was relatively new to town.
“I think it was inspired by Louise Chilton’s mother, who belonged to a garden club in Kingston, New York,” said club president Ditsy Keightley.
“And this garden club was part of the Garden Club of America. So I think they started the club with the intention of making him a member of the Garden Club of America, ”she said.
Joining the national organization was not an easy task.
The handwritten minutes of this very first meeting a hundred years ago show that the ladies were the mirror image of other national club members of the time: they elected officers, set goals, and formed a committee to draw up a charter.
From the start, they focused on nurturing a love of the garden and educating their members about everything from gardening and conservation to flower design – and later photography.
“I’ve been through 100 years of minutes and there has been a lot of talk about plant reproduction, the nicest things to plant, a lot about landscaping and landscaping,” said Ferretti.
The Kanawha Garden Club maintains some of the plants along the Carriage Trail.
“They would bring landscape designers to Charleston to speak to the community. We still do that today. And civic embellishment. That’s where Ruffner Park came into being. “
At the time the club was formed, the city’s own Ruffner Cemetery on Kanawha Boulevard was in the middle of being converted to Spring Hill Cemetery – meaning graves and headstones were relocated to keep the land between Ruffner Street and the Capitol be turned into a park.
Garden boxes can be seen in the city garage on Summers Street.
Founding member Louise Chilton was actively involved in converting Ruffner Cemetery into Ruffner Park.
“People had the opportunity to move their families to Spring Hill when the cemetery was started. Some of them either didn’t make up their mind or couldn’t afford to move their relatives. Or we couldn’t find it, ”said Keightley.
So: “There are still many graves under Ruffner Park. There are a number of graves and tombstones, some buried tombstones. “
It’s Charleston’s first public park – a quiet, awe-inspiring place with scattered benches and a canopy of trees that hide nearby houses so that it provided “a little green retreat,” Keightley said.
At least until a suspected tornado swept through Charleston on June 24, 2019. Ruffner Park was badly hit, many trees were destroyed in the storm and others were lost because they were so badly damaged that they could no longer be saved.
The city has since awaited an investigation into the remaining graves, and the Kanawha Garden Club applied for and received its first-ever Garden Club of America restoration grant of $ 10,000. The project finally seems to be moving forward.
“This is a restoration effort, so it’s a little different and very exciting,” said Keightley.
The funds “are specifically intended for the purchase of plants, native plants and trees”.
The club members are also in the process of deciding on a Centennial Project to honor and celebrate the 100-year history of the club, the Kanawha Valley, one garden at a time.
In April, Kanawha Garden Club members celebrated – with a mix of masks and social distancing – the fact that the garden is being worked on even during a pandemic.
“We love nature. We care about the environment. I think we have helped make this area livelier and more liveable, ”said Ferretti.
“We came together to share the joy of growing something and hopefully seeing the garden flourish,” said Keightley.
“We are proud of the contribution we have made to the city. I’m excited to see what’s next. “
