The Garden Club of Jacksonville

My Aunt Bette, was a garden club member.  She fit right in.  Bette Long was beautiful, gracious, loved people and philanthropic.  For as long as I remember, she talked about her beloved Cherokee Rose kind of Garden Club. While it was located in neighbouring Orange Park, it had the same focus and drive as the Jacksonville Garden Club.   It was there that she had her memorial service upon her home-going. For sure, she probably never actually potted a plant with her beautiful nail-painted hands but more than likely gave a ton of money to help the needy and further the cause.  

Many times, she and her group would join the Garden girls at the Jacksonville Garden club for annual meetings and the like. With Aunt Bette, the more people the better. That is how I learned about the Downtown Jacksonville Garden Club which began its life on March 22, 1922.  

First Garden club show.. 1922( Garden Club, JHS)

Yesterday, a group of about seventy five ladies gathered at the Riverside area Garden Club to hear interim archivist Emily Cottrell talk about how the Historical Society of Jacksonville archives its items.  It seems that  in July of 2020, the historical society came to the garden club to view hundreds of documents, photographs, scrapbooks and more that were in the possession of the club.  By the end of that year, the garden club group had donated these items to the Historical Society and they were carried away by several trips to be archived and documented.

The speaker and archivist, Emily Cottrell a UNF graduate first volunteered at the Historical Society and now is a member of the staff in charge of this massive historical archive. As many of 10 scrapbooks, dozens and dozens of documents, booklets, brochures, and pages of different and various “circles” are now in her possession at the JHS to archive, decipher and digitize. With the help of Ethan and Tova, members and other volunteers, many have worked diligently to put items together by date, time and group.

The event yesterday was presented on a slide show and with a table display of some old and long-standing documents and photos.  There was the first garden show and ribbon cutting event pictured.  Also was shown, an old scrapbook of 1946 newspaper clippings dating back to the early 1900’s. Other projects shown was that of a 1963-64  “Garden for the Blind” where at least 25 students from the St. Augustine Deaf and Blind school were celebrated with a “sensory garden using the senses of touch, taste, smell, feel, and see,  set up for them.

The Jacksonville Garden Club was founded by Ninah Cummer with a group of some 17 friends in 1922.  It was a “small organization to further their garden research and to enhance city spaces. “

During Cottrell’s talk, she mentioned 2555 Gilmore Street as a place of service. After the event, I rode past to see what and where that was.   It is the home of Central Riverside Elementary School which was built in 1916 so within it first few years, the Garden Club was helping beautify the school grounds.

There have been as many as 170 “circles” ( garden groups) over the years.  Cottrell indicated there are 130 active groups at this time.  Some of the names of circles over the years have been:  Cherokee, Oleander, Avondale, Ingleside, Magnolia, River Oaks, Lantana, Red Bud and my favorite, “Old Fashioned Garden”.

Aunt Bette would be proud I went to the Garden Club of Jacksonville. I’m all about giving too but rarely put my hand in the dirt to plant either….Ha!

See you tomorrow,

Nan