This spring, the Jill Griesse Historic Garden project begins the third phase of our comprehensive renovation of the Museum grounds and gardens.
James Sayre and Brendan Kennedy, employees of Eagle Machine and Welding, set the gate post for the new fence.
We are already off to a great head start for our third year of garden renovations and are proud to announce the recent completion of the elegant reproduction period fence and entrance gate across the entire sidewalk front of the Museum. Graciously funded by the Granville Community Foundation, the black powder-coated aluminum fence features a historic Greek key motif. This gift from the foundation is a handsome addition to the Museum grounds and to downtown Granville.
When summer arrives, we will turn our attentions to the Ladies' Garden where you will see us re-position the steps into the garden slightly to the south to align with the bronze statue located on the opposite wall. The center bed will be converted to crushed stone allowing for a handsome gathering spot for public or private meetings, lunches, and talks. The Granville Garden Club, who will oversee this project, has plans for a pair of clematis for a new arbor as well as other new and refreshed plantings.
The gate is finished. Powder coating on the fence is being completed and installation will follow.
In the summer of 2015, the first year of the project, we executed the first phase of landscape designer Laura Burchfield's master plan for the garden, installing plant material in fashion and in use during the mid nineteenth century when the house was occupied by the Avery’s and the Downers. Five thousand daffodil bulbs, many from the original garden of namesake Jill Griesse, will be in bloom soon, flowering and multiplying each and every spring.
The second year of garden renovation, 2016, saw the completion of the Dale and Tina Knobel Garden Folly, our intimate Greek revival outdoor performance pavilion. The Folly was designed to ingeniously contain secure storage for tables and chairs used for outdoor public or private functions on the grounds. The Folly also provides an area for the Granville Garden Club to use in their ongoing maintenance of the Museum grounds. But more than that, the Folly now becomes the focal point of the garden and is available as a venue for performances, celebrations, and weddings in the years to come.
Also in year two, new planting beds were designed and created east and west of the Folly. Of particular note in the new beds is a handsome pair of Thornless Hawthorne trees. The master plan also called for a six-foot high cedar fence to the east and south of the Folly, and this fence now accents the Folly and its new attendant plantings in a most sublime way.
Now is the time to contact the Museum to book our grounds for your family reunion or life celebrations. Please take advantage of our handsome landscaped grounds. To have a wedding at the new Folly would be magical!