A Not-so-Sleepy Hollow, and Rod Riedel’s Garden
Holly Salemy and Andrea Meyers sent out a surprisingly popular sign up for a club tour of Concord’s own Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Word is that all the slots were filled only an hour after it first landed in email boxes! At the appointed hour, lucky members met at Pritchard Gate with Barbara Forman – of the Concord Museum – who handled her popularity with aplomb. Barbara calmed us down and began our tour with a history of the grounds, the origin of the Sleepy Hollow name, how Transcendentalism informed the design, and about community effort and family “planting bees” that beautified and transformed the former fairgrounds into one of the first garden-style cemeteries in this country.
Rod Riedel, Anne Hrabchak, Holly Salemy, Sandra Conrad, Andrea Meyers, Barbara Forman of the Concord Museum, Jane Rupley, Michelle McArdle, Katie Wilson, Pat Sinton, Jane Coutre, Hilary Robinson, Erika Rodriguez, Sarah MacEachern
Barbara walked our group past several of the cemetery’s most famous sites and to a few hidden ones, and shared several poignant stories at the Melvin memorial by Daniel Chester French – a monument she deemed the most beautiful piece of public art in America. Barbara directed attention to the headstones of especially talented Concord women like Mary Moody Emerson (whose diaries evidence many ideas later articulated by her more famous nephew) and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (who, among other things, elevated the educational value of play when she founded the kindergarten system in this country).
Same group, with Melinda Shumway in the seafoam jacket)
Barbara reminded us of a newly available resource of particular interest to GCC members. Her husband, Richard Forman, is a co-author along with Delia Kaye and Robert White of the book Ecology Along Concord Trails, available at the Keyes Road town offices and at the Concord Visitor’s Center. Spiral bound and full of highly annotated maps, every one of us should secure a copy ($15) and plan for those pleasant winter days exploring the table of contents for ourselves.
The morning concluded with tailgate cider and Holly and Andrea’s homemade cookies inside Pritchard Gate. Because of how popular the Sleepy Hollow sign up proved to be, Holly and Andrea plan to offer another opportunity for the tour. STAY TUNED.
While on our Sleepy Hollow tour, Sandra Conrad pointed out one of the ten benches that the Garden Club gave as a gift to the town for the bicentennial. This one is on Author’s Ridge, between the Hawthorne and Emerson family plots. It has been one of Sandy’s personal projects to record all of their locations as part of her interest in GCC history. If you know of one, let her know. Maybe it’s one she hasn’t found yet.
And also . . .
This garden bed has a secret
New member Rod Riedel opened his garden a few weeks ago. Among what the group found instructive about his approach is how he gardens between the sidewalk and the curb, using slightly raised beds to manage soil and moisture. Anyone who walks along that stretch of Main Street cannot help but enjoy this little street side oasis. Look for his flush of tulips in the spring, one of the few places in Concord the deer dare not dine.
Rod Riedel, Pam Nelson, Ellen Whitney, Marta Taylor, Jenny Bolton (and friend), Kelly Bothe, Michelle McArdle, Jane Coutre, Betsy Spaulding, Wilhelmina van der Wansem
We enjoyed his tales of trial and error, and appreciated the endurance of his successes. Dwarf Astilbe used as a ground cover, an especially floriferous Endless Summer hydrangea, a quiet patio for long talks, and the pair of silver maples framing the river view enjoyed particular admiration.
A river view from Rod Riedel’s Garden
Rod is also the doting steward of a surviving and majestic American Elm (pictured below), which in return towers over the house like a sentinel. We are grateful to Rod for sharing a few of the many stories his garden has to tell. If you missed his garden on our morning there, you can enjoy it for yourself during next summer’s Concord Museum Garden tour.
