By Outreach and Education Manager Rachel Calderara
If you have ever visited Wildlands’ headquarters at Davis-Douglas Farm (DDF) in Plymouth, you have likely wondered about the old granite foundation in the middle of the field. These blocks of granite are what remains of the 1890s barn that stood for about 100 years before collapsing. Since Wildlands acquired Davis-Douglas Farm in 2011, we have made a number of transformations to turn this land into our new headquarters, including restoring the old farm house to make a unique office building and erecting the Community Conservation Barn for community gatherings, which is complete with a three bay garage and woodshop for our stewardship needs. The foundation remained a relic of interest for staff and visitors alike, a beautiful granite structure in the middle of our headquarters that was unused and unsafe to enter.
For years we brainstormed ways to use this foundation, which would complete phase four of the Davis-Douglas Farm transformation. Finally, we found the answer when landscape designer Love Albrecht Howard came to us with the idea to build a demonstration garden with plants native to New England. We worked once more with Jerry Richmond, who has been a great partner throughout the DDF transformation. To prepare for its transition to a garden, Jerry and his team filled the foundation, removed a section of granite to create additional handicap parking, and repurposed this granite to build a beautiful staircase entrance from the lower field. The upper entrance was modified so a wheelchair can enter without difficulty and traverse the pathway that leads to a wide semi-circle seating area with granite benches.
On November 2 and 3, volunteers gathered to bring the garden to life under Love’s direction. We want to thank volunteers Caroline Chapin, Sarah Geer, Nina Pollock, Marilynn Atterbury, Charlotte Russel, Margi Delafield, Elaine Lackey, Lois Post, Lucy Hutchinson and Susan Wolfe for their help with planting, and to those who helped water the garden regularly in the following weeks. And of course, we want to thank Love Albrecht Howard, whose vision, hard work, and dedication to wild spaces was the driving force behind this project.
We encourage you to check out this new demonstration garden on your next visit to Davis-Douglas Farm. The garden is designed for there to be new plants of interest in bloom throughout the year. The plants did well establishing their new home this fall and we are looking forward to watching the garden blossom next year!