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“Someone’s Been Digging in the Dirt,” the Annual Symposium of the Southern Garden History Society
Lynchburg Old City Cemetery, Courtesy Southern Garden History Society
The 2013 Annual Meeting of the Southern Garden History Society will be held in Lynchburg, Virginia May 3 – 5, 2013.
Our theme “Someone’s Been Digging in the Dirt” applies to the archeologists at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, the ladies of the Garden Club of Virginia, the Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, the Southern Memorial Association in its work at the Old City Cemetery, the Saunders family of boxwood growers, the flower gardeners and fruit growers on the 200 year old former plantation, Pharsalia, and the handicapped individuals and inner city children at the urban farm, Lynchburg Grows. Many other stories will be told and sites visited, including beautiful private gardens open for the post-symposium Sunday Extension.
Gale Roberts will talk about her father, Stanley Abbott who was the first resident landscape architect and primary designer of the major Depression era project, the Blue Ridge Parkway. William Riely, the landscape architect for the Garden Club of Virginia, will discuss the GCV’s restoration projects at Point of Honor, Sweet Briar College and most recently, The Jefferson Poplar Forest.
Author and Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia, Rueben Rainey, will spotlight the Harlem Renaissance poet, Anne Spencer and her Lynchburg garden.
Pharsalia Mansion, Nelson County, VA, Courtesy: Southern Garden History Society
Mary Brawley Hill, author of the book, “Ensnared with Flowers,” refers to Andrew Marvell’s 17th century poem, “Thoughts in a Garden ,” in her inspired presentation.
For more information about the Symposium go to:
