What an Evening at Stonehurst !

by Sara Begg,
Horticultural Information Coordinator,
Massachusetts Horticultural Society                           

On a beautiful fall evening in early October, over 100 COGdesign supporters gathered at the spectacular, historic house and landscape known as Stonehurst in Waltham.  Exploring both the house and landscape, the visitors were greeted by stunning naturalistic design, distant city views, and majestic deciduous and evergreen trees reaching for the sky, fading to a magnificent pink over the western fields as the day drew to a close.

Stonehurst – built in 1886 by Henry Hobson Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted – was a perfect setting for celebrating the COGdesign Project Showcase. The projects were displayed in the many rooms of the mansion, watched over by the portraits of the Paines, the original owners of the property.  Roy Blomquist, the Boston Parks Department’s Director of Horticulture and member of COGdesign’s Advisory Board, began the night with a call to arms citing the importance of public work and horticulture in strengthening both urban and suburban communities.

Lucia Droby, COGdesign’s Executive Director, moderated the evening, beginning with the Mendon-Upton Library District project. Susan Shelkrot, spokesperson for the student designers, spoke about their excitement when the project was offered to the Landscape Institute’s Advanced Design studio. According to Katherine Stanton, chair of the library district committee, "the students’ plans and presentation helped a somewhat frustrated and jaded committee have their joy renewed and their excitement stirred up again, the way we were six years ago."

Designer Alice Evans spoke of the positive experience she and designer Janis Porter had working with the residents and the committee overseeing the creation of a plan for the Devine Rose Garden at the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton.  She spoke of the opportunities for creative design when designing for people of varying degrees of blindness.   Brian Charlson, director of the Carroll Center’s technology program, expressed his delight and excitement about the garden and how it will provide a much needed respite from the daily stresses of work and study. 

On behalf of the High Street Veterans Housing project in Brookline, designer Ellen Forrester described the amazing growth that both she and the community experienced. She had been asked to teach and encourage good gardening practices to residents; the number of people involved in the front stoop gardening grew through the summer.  The children of the neighborhood became involved and among the most eager participants.  Resident Clayton Reed spoke about how helpful Ellen was in encouraging all the residents in their gardening and their project to make their neighborhood beautiful.

The evening’s grand finale was a lecture by Tom Paine, ASLA and great, great nephew to the original owner of Stonehurst. He spoke of his personal experiences at Stonehurst and its history.  Its influence on him as a young man led him to join the Robert Treat Paine Historical Trust in 1990 which was created to help the City of Waltham restore Stonehurst to its current state of grandeur.

It was a great evening had by all and surely one that was in keeping with the ideals that Richardson, Olmsted, and Paine promoted throughout their careers.