Boothbay Region Garden Club

After the purchase of the land now known as the Memorial Garden in Boothbay – located just west of the Boothbay Common - by the Boothbay Civic Association (BCA) in 1995, an effort, spearheaded by Chet Rittall was started to raise funds for an armillary. He had seen a much smaller version at Lincoln Academy and thought it would fit nicely into the BCA's beautification project. With donated funds, Peter Brown's design and construction, Douglas Harley's welding, and Mike Tomacelli's machine shop, the armillary was completed. An old schooner anchor, weighing a thousand pounds, was purchased in Massachusetts and cut in half to form the top and bottom of the armillary. Funds for the armillary were generously donated by family and friends in memory of Henry G. Dube, and the garden was dedicated to him.

Over time, the garden around the armillary became difficult to maintain. Henry Dube’s wife, Jean, had been taking care of it without much help, and the Civic Association was unable to maintain it. Pat Farrin, a Boothbay general contractor who was always civic minded and eager to assist with his talents for landscaping, saw the need to do something to sustain and improve this garden. He thought that the Boothbay Region Garden Club might be part of a potential solution. At that time - in 2005 - I was the newly elected president of the garden club and Pat approached me to meet with him and discuss the possibility of the club’s being involved in caring for this garden. We met and discussed possibilities for improving this area. Pat offered his help and told us that Cathy Conn, a local landscaper with whom he worked, would be willing to work on this project as well. Together, they would give their time and talents toward restoring this garden. I became excited about getting the garden club involved in the beautification of this area. The club had already created the Butterfly Garden which lies on the east side of the Memorial Garden, so they were familiar with the area.

I presented the possibility of the garden club’s taking over the maintenance of the garden from the Civic Association, and club members were enthusiastic about it. Following their approval, I met with Cathy Conn, and the two of us addressed the Association to discuss our ideas. Cathy had already drawn up a plan for the entire Boothbay Memorial Garden dated March 12, 2006. I still have a copy of the plan.

At the Civic Association meeting, Cathy presented her plan, and I presented the idea of our garden club’s becoming involved. They had one very important question for me and that was “How do you plan to take care of it?” This had been a real issue for the association. That needed an immediate answer, and I wasn’t certain at the time how we would do so, but I assured them that a club of our size would be able to handle it. They voted to have us look after the garden and donated $1.000 to help us do so.

Pat Farrin began preparing the planting area below and around the armillary. Cathy helped the club with a design for planting tulips and daffodils for the upcoming spring. The club was ready to get to work.

Thinking of how the club could maintain the garden, I came up with a plan that I thought would work. We would have four teams and each team would meet on one of the Mondays of each month to plant, weed, dead-head the flowers, and whatever else needed to be done. Club members Linda Redman and Penny Thumith were appointed chairs of the Armillary Garden Committee. Because we needed more funds for the garden I applied for a grant, with the help of Claire Hunt, from the National Garden Club. We were awarded $350.

As time went on, the armillary needed to be repainted. Peter Brown took care of that, and Pat Farrin re-positioned the armillary, raising it higher inside the garden around it. We later became more independent in taking care of the garden, and Pat Farrin went on to other things. But he continued his support with soil, mulch, sidewalk work, and anything that was needed for many years. He and Cathy Conn were made honorary members of our garden club for their role in improving and enlarging the garden.

The Memorial Garden was deeded to the town of Boothbay in 2005. The town manager at the time, John Anderson, was also a friend of the garden club. In fact, he had a picture of the new Armillary Garden on the cover of the Town Report of 2006. The club was further honored by another picture on the back of the report as we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the garden club at the gazebo on the Boothbay Common.

The Garden Club also has the responsibility to maintain the Civil War Monument, right across the street from the Armillary Garden. We still work to maintain these gardens, as well as the garden around the gazebo on the Common. For many years there was no way to water the Civil War Monument Garden without carrying buckets of water across the street from the Memorial Garden. I approached John Anderson about the idea of our having a water source on the monument grounds. To my surprise, he directed the installation of the water line under the street from the Memorial Garden to the Monument! We had water! It certainly made life easier for all of us!

The garden club has been true to its commitment to care for the Armillary Garden. As we all grow older, gardening has become more difficult for many of our members, and some have had to give up physically maintaining the gardens. This has made it difficult to have enough people to help us out each week at the gardens. I am happy to say that recently several new members with undamaged body parts have joined in our weekly weeding sessions! We are now back where we started with enthusiasm and pride 11 years ago when we made our commitment to help beautify our surrounding area although we definitely encourage younger locals to join the Club and help us keep the Boothbay region beautiful!! If interested, please join us at our first evening meeting on Wednesday, April 9 at 5:30 p.m. at St. Columba’s for refreshments and an interesting presentation!