Walkable Montgomery House garden preserving Historical district

Walkable Montgomery House garden preserving Historical district

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A large traditional Southern garden for family activities on the grounds of the historic 1852 Montgomery House in the center of Madison is becoming reality with a groundbreaking event set later this month.

"The purchase of the Montgomery House has been one of our goals in preserving our Historical district," said Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler. "Adding the botanical gardens will be an amazing feature that the citizens will enjoy and treasure for years."

Officials envision a walkway incorporating the large trees where families will be able to picnic and stroll through the garden.

“We’ll be including azaleas, ferns, wildflowers, and more,” said Miriam Ethridge code enforcement officer with the city of Madison, which has purchased the Montgomery House property.

“It’s planned to be an old Southern garden that will accentuate the house,” Ethridge said. “There’s a lot of history there, and we hope to build on it. It’s right in the middle of Madison and will be the focal point of downtown.”

The Montgomery House, a one-story Gothic Revival, was built in 1852 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The house is located right off Main Street in Madison across from the Methodist church.

The house’s design is attributed to Frank Wills, a British-born architect known for his designs of Gothic Revival churches and who designed the Chapel of the Cross in Madison, which was built between 1850 and 1852. 

Gothic Revival was an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England and is commonly identified by pointed arches, used for windows, doors and decorative elements such as porches, dormers or roof gables.

Two sponsors of the garden project, America in Bloom and Canadian National Railway, will be present at the event, she said

The city applied for a grant from America in Bloom, an organization that focuses on flowers in cities.

One of its biggest sponsors is the Canadian National Railway, which happens to run right through Madison in full view of where the garden will be.

“The grant is $25,000, and the city will match that for a total of $50,000,” Ethridge said. “We’re starting to clear the area now, and we hope to get a walkway in before the groundbreaking so people can walk the path and see where the garden will be.”

Ethridge said the $50,000 will help kickstart the project that could take around two or three years to complete, and the city could use all the help it can get. The plan is to do more fundraising and get some volunteer groups to come out and help as well.

“There’s irrigation, planting mix and more, so the expenses run up fast,” she said. “The whole project is so exciting for me since I’m a gardener, so having this garden right smack in the middle of Madison will be spectacular.”

The groundbreaking for the Montgomery House garden will be at 11 a.m. April 21 and will last around 45 minutes to an hour. The public and the media are invited to attend.






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