Bernardsville Public Library Received from Bernardsville Garden Club on October 28, 2003

Historic Gardens Project
Principal Financial Group Grant Program

Bernardsville Garden Club
Marilyn Dee President
Bernardsville, NJ
P.O. Box 81
Garden Club of New Jersey

42 Members
18 Associate members

Title: Creation of a Municipal Building garden to reflect its history as a nineteenth century mill and distillery and to hide a recent addition of an emergency generator.

Executive Summary: Creation of a 60 foot by 80 foot "L" shaped bed, including soil preparation and amendment, fencing, trellises, and irrigation. The plantings would reflect the historic character of the municipal building and hide external utilities including an emergency power generator. Open pollinated grains that would have been ground at the grist mill and companion plants like gourds and pumpkins, teasel, tall rudbeckia, monarda, and leaf lettuces would have been used by industrious rural millers will be combined to make a visual study of the agricultural past of the mill industry in Bernardsville.

Contact Person: Lorette E. P. A. Cheswick
Civic Chair, Bernardsville Garden Club
93 Mine Mount Road
Bernardsville, NJ
908-766-3831 voice
908-221-9044 fax
lepac@cheswick.com

Amount requested: $3000

Before photo:

Project description:

Creation of a garden on the north side of the historic municipal building disguising utilities and the emergency generator that was installed this year. There are currently no plantings around the utilities or the emergency generator. These utilities are visible from the street and mill pond, and get close inspection during the annual Memorial Day events and occasional wedding photo shoots. The utilities need to remain accessible to both truck and repair personnel. People who work in the building enjoy being able to look outside when they work. The new plantings must take into consideration the maintenance and line of sight issues, while providing a suitable backdrop for formal occasions. Plant material will reflect the varied history of the building.

The planned garden is on the north side of the mill adjacent to and down stream of the dam. There is a 100' X 100' lawn with a flagpole and war memorial. The garden would extend from the east front of the building by the large holly tree and continue along the east façade to the dam retaining wall. The garden would be 25 feet deep along the building to surround the generator and other utilities. (The generator is almost 7 feet tall.) At the rear corner, the garden would make a 90 degree turn and follow the dam retaining wall and safety fence. Along this axis it would be about 10 feet wide. The lawn edge of the bed would be simply edged and mulched. It would also be curved to soften the visual impact of the beds to match the rest of the plantings in the area.

The present Borough Hall, built around 1800, is known as Bunn's Mill and was operated as a grist mill, sawmill, cider mill and distillery in that century. Early in this century, the mill pond was made into a park by the Lindaberry family. Photographs indicate it was a Victorian pleasure way, with a rustic pavilion on the opposite side of the mill pond, for summer fishing, boating, and winter skating.

As a working commercial site for over 100 years, the mill had no original gardens. Photographs repeatedly show a harsh, active landscape. When the Lindaberry family purchased the land, they focused on the pond for their plantings. Much of that work is still visible. When the mill was converted to the municipal building in 1963, there was already a small memorial park with roses in the area of the north lawn. A number of aspects of the plantings and hardscape seem to have been destroyed at this time. The last eye witness account in the Bernardsville Public Library Local History collection describes the saw mill and cider mill/distillery work.

Plant choice would include grains, apples, and plants appropriate to a mill property. Plant material used must be easily disposable because of the access constraints. Annuals including vegetables fit these criteria. Plants would be placed in front of and on the sides of the genrator and other utilities. It is impossible to plant apples in the proposed area because of the access requirements. It is hoped that they may be added to another part of the municipal grounds at a later date. The current retaining wall fence may need replacing, though its industrial character reflects the industrial past of the mill. Should deer damage become a continual problem, an appropriate fence will be constructed to protect the plant material. The area has been minimally maintained since it was graded when the mill was converted to the municipal building in the 1960's therefore the soil needs complete restoration to make it functional as a planting site.

10' X 10' grain plots along the fence will produce enough grain for some visual appreciation of the amount of land required for production of one bag of flour. Open pollinated varieties of corn, wheat, rye, and buckwheat require single plantings for genetic consistency. 60 running feet of such plantings would bring the bed to within 20 feet of the building. In the relative shade, we would plant gourds and pumpkins, teasel, tall rudbeckia, monarda, and leaf lettuces. Bamboo trellises would be used to give height where appropriate. Corn stalks, pumpkins, and gourds would be collected in fall and arranged in front of the utilities. Landscape roses would be added to the greenery currently surrounding the flagpole, reflecting the planting done for the Memorial Park in the mid 1950's. No changes to the utilities access will occur with such a planting. Plans will be placed on file with the Bernardsville Public Library for answering any future interest in Bernardsville public gardens.

Matching funds: Bernardsville Garden Club is applying for a grant from National Garden Clubs, Inc. under the sponsorship of the Principal Financial Group Grant Program for the Historic Gardens Project:. The Bernardsville Garden Club will match any award by the Principal Financial Group Grant Program up to $3000.00. There was a motion to this purpose at our October meeting with unanimous approval.

Project's impact on the community: Recent government response to the emergency needs of the community has changed the exterior character of the borough hall. Disguising the new emergency generator will reduce the visual impact of the overwhelming exterior utilities. The new plantings will reflect the history of the building and serve to remind Bernardsville residents of the building's historic context. In a full meeting of the town council, presentation of this garden plan led to a motion and unanimous approval of access to the grounds for the purpose of creating the proposed garden, including water connections and utilities maintenance configuration. An explanatory sign will be installed to educate viewers about the milling grist, cider, and wood.

Garden Club involvement: The Bernardsville Garden Club will fund, and implement the initial planting of the garden. BGC will contract for fences, irrigation, and sign creation and installation. After installation, the BGC will maintain the garden as an additional responsibility of the Civic Chair. The Civic Chair will supervise Garden Club, Girl Scout, Boy Scout, high school Green Team, and other volunteers for the summer care and fall harvest and cleanup. There will be designated days for Spring and Fall cleanup. The rest of the growing season the chair will assign and supervise volunteers to weed and maintain the garden on a bi weekly basis.

Plan for future maintenance:

Spring cleanup: Town Public Works (Test and turn on irrigation system)
Spring planting: Garden Club and other volunteers in the annual town spring cleanup day
Annual adoption of areas by local volunteer groups who will use a published maintenance guide provided by the garden club. This guide will be updated as planting needs change and posted at the municipal building and town library and on the town information website www.Bernardsville.org.
Fall harvest and clean up: Garden Club, other volunteers, and town Public Works as needed (renew mulch every 2-3 years, deal with poison ivy if needed)
Winter update: The Civic chair will review the garden progress for the year, make recommendations to the club and update the town resources. New plant materials will be ordered and organized for spring planting.
Publicity will cover the receipt of the grant, installation of the garden, formal opening of the garden on Memorial Day, the fall harvest the first year and recognize the generosity of the Principal Financial Group.

Proposed Itemized budget:

Irrigation: Add spigots and drip irrigation
Fencing: fence to delineate the garden from the dam retaining wall
Plants: plant material to represent the various stages of the mill's life:
Grist: corn (Luther Hill, a New Jersey heirloom), open pollinated rye and wheat, buckwheat
Saw mill: Oaks and maples already on the property.
Cider mill: Apple trees to be installed at a later date
Distillery: Apple trees to be installed at a later date
Working 19th century mill property: Flax, teasel, squash, apples, dye plants like rudbeckia, lettuce, monarda

Installation: roto-tilling of composted material.
Soil amelioration: 2-4 cubic yards of top soil. Soil testing.
Planting of annual grains and installation of dye plants in May 2004
Sign creation and installation
Project completion by 28 May 2004

Income Cost
Principal Financial Group $3000.00
Bernardsville Garden Club $3000.00
Total $6000.00

Expenses Cost
Irrigation $4000.00
Fencing: 80' X 5' $800.00
Plants $200.00
Soil amendments $500.00
Explanatory sign $500.00
Total $6000.00