History of the Hillsborough Garden Club
by Peggy C. Troxell
This is one of a series of short articles on historic topics sponsored by the Hillsborough Historical Society. It is a talk given by the author on May 5, 2000 at the Historical Society’s Annual Dinner, held at Ayr Mount. We thank Peggy Troxell for letting us publish this work. To read other articles in this series, go to the Historical Society’s page on the Alliance web site at www.historichillsborough.org. Welcome to our celebration of 75 years of the Hillsborough Garden Club. Back in 1925, the ladies of Hillsborough realized that there was a need for the improvement and beautification of the streets and gardens in town. In April of that year, fourteen ladies met in the old school building and decided to form the Hillsborough Garden Club. The charter members were: Mrs. Charles Robertson (who was elected President), Mrs. J.L. Brown, Mrs. Grover Bivins, Mrs. Herbert Cates, Sr., Miss Mary Crawford, Mrs. B.B. Forrest, Mrs. B.F. Forrest, Mrs. B.P. Gordon, Mrs. Clarence Jones, Sr., Mrs. T.E. Lynch, Mrs. Claude Sharpe, Mrs. R.B. Hayes, Miss Maude Brown, and Mrs. Fred Cates, Sr.. The Cowslip was voted the club flower and “America the Beautiful” was the club song. Club objectives were the promotion of civic improvement, to foster civic pride, to create an awareness and appreciation of the beauty and charm of our town. The club motto was “Preserve what is good, grow what is good and display what is good.” Among the first projects undertaken by this new Garden Club was the cleaning of streets and vacant lots. The ladies donated money to have paper and debris removed. They took charge of upkeep and restoration of the old town cemetery. And the first real gardening accomplishment was the planting of trees on the courthouse square and other streets in town. In 1927, Mrs. Grover Bivins was in charge of the first plant sale and membership increased greatly during this period. In 1929, the club had a contest for “Better Home Grounds” and Mrs. A.H. Graham was the chairman of the judging committee. In 1935 the first flower show sponsored by the club was held in the high school gymnasium. Affiliation with the Garden Clubs of North Carolina came in 1936. Mrs. B.B. Forrest was president at this time and Mrs. George Gilmore was the Parliamentarian. The first constitution and by-laws were drawn up. The first garden pilgrimage was during this period and was a local project. This was the beginning of the Historic Home and Garden Tour that we have today. The Pilgrimages, as they were called back then, only included the gardens at historic homes in Hillsborough and not the homes themselves, although a brief history of the home was included in the tour brochure. The Annual Spring Pilgrimages depended largely for their success on the support and talents of the members of the Hillsborough Garden Club. In 1938-39, Mrs. George Gilmore was president and the theme for this year's Pilgrimage was “Garden Fortnight” to coincide with participation in the State Fortnight Project. The price of the tour was ten cents and eight gardens were open. It was also during this time that the Garden Club published a booklet titled “Hillsboro 1754-1939.” The booklet gives an account of Hillsborough's buildings, churches, schools and famous men. In 1940, the annual Pilgrimage saw 148 visitors and the club cleared $21.75. The Club was very active until World War II intervened in 1942 and the club disbanded due to the rationing of gas. Whenever possible members did get together and roll bandages and made soldier's dream bags for the war effort. On November 7, 1946, the club was reorganized by Mrs. Lena Moore and the work left undone during the War was resumed. Civic improvement was begun on an extensive scale and the flower shows were resumed. The membership increased greatly. In 1948 Mrs. C.S. Hubbard was president and in the fall of that year, the club held a flower show for which they were awarded the Purple Ribbon for a superior show. The pilgrimage was held in connection with the show and a crowd of about 1,000 people came to Hillsboro for the two days of the “Pilgrimage-Flower Show,” entitled “Colonial Hillsboro.” This was the first undertaking of its kind in the history of the State Garden Club. The American Legion Building, today known as the Whitted
House, served as headquarters and housed the flower show. A few years later, the Club sponsored the sale of bone china memorial plates showing the William Hooper Home. In 1953, in conjunction with the Town's Bicentennial Celebration, the garden club established the first Historic Home and Garden Tour. The textile mill in Hillsborough donated yards of fabric and the ladies made colonial costumes. Many served as greeters and docents at the sites and also donated flower arrangements to be displayed in the homes and public buildings. From a faded yearbook in 1953 reads, “Thinking that many visitors might like to go into some of our old homes, A Historical Homes Tour was planned to coincide with the Bicentennial week. Even though this was short notice for so big a project, it was carried out quite successfully, we felt, and many more people attended than most of us had any idea would. We want to thank each of you who came and helped us make our tour the success it was.” In connection with this, the garden club had permanent wooden markers made and put up to point out to the tourist the name and date of 20 of our historic sites and homes. The sites that were open that very first year were: the Masonic Lodge; the Colonial Inn; the Parks-Richmond house, today known as Teardrops; Burnside; St. Matthew's; the monument to the Regulators; Ayr Mount; J.L. Conner’s house, today known as Chatwood; the American Legion Building, now known as the Whitted House; the Presbyterian Church; the Nash-Hooper House; the First Baptist Church; the Methodist Church; the Old Courthouse; Moorefields; the T. E. Lloyd home, today the Nash Law Office; and Johnson's headquarters which was located on the outskirts of Hillsborough. Today it is our Visitor's Center. As a result of an exhibition of artifacts by Mr. Strudwick in the Old Courthouse for the bi-centennial, the idea of the Orange County Historical Museum was formed. In 1955 Mrs. Clarence Jones, the president of the club at this time, organized the Orange County Historical Museum, with the Hillsborough Garden Club as sponsoring organization. The club members provided funds, materials, and equipment for the new Museum. They also served as volunteers in the Museum until a Curator was hired in 1959. The outstanding success of this project was due to the untiring work of many of the Garden Club members. In the 1960's, because of the huge success and popularity of the Historic Home and Garden Tour, the Hillsborough Historical Society assumed responsibility for the planning and execution of the bi-annual tour. 1963 saw the first tour sponsored by the Historical Society. For over thirty years, the cooperative efforts of these two organizations have made the Historic Home and Garden Tour one of the premier events in Hillsborough. The Historical Society sponsored its last Historic Home and Garden Tour in 1997. In 1999, the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough assumed responsibility for the Spring Garden Tour. In 1970, at a suggestion from Mrs. C.F. Dority, a club member, the restoration and maintenance of an old-fashioned garden at the Burwell School was undertaken as a long-range project by the Garden Club. Extensive research, planning and planting were done for several years. On April 17, 1977 the Historic Hillsborough Commission and the Garden Club dedicated the garden at the Burwell School to Carrie Waitt Spurgeon, who had lived in the house and cared for the garden for some seventy years. In 1981, the Hillsborough Historical Society recognized the Garden Club with the Engstrom Award, dedicating it to the past and present members. The Garden Club has had a number of projects over the years. The list is too long to mention them all, but some of the highlights have been: the planting and maintenance of shrubbery at the entrance to the Old Town Cemetery, beautification and planting of the Hillsborough Fire Station and various schools in town, anti-litter cards that were presented to all driver's education students by the club upon completion of the course, citizenship awards presented to high school seniors, sponsorship of a Junior Garden Club through the Girl Scouts, maintenance of rose bushes at the entrance to Hillsborough and the planting of a red, white and blue garden in the triangle across from the Old Town Hall. The Garden Club has provided flower arrangements for the Museum and Library, and for the homes during the Historic Home and Garden Tours. And don't forget the lovely boxwood wreaths that were made for the Christmas Tours. The Club has had plant sales, calendar
sales, flower shows, bridge luncheons, tea parties, Hawaiian parties and garden work days. The Garden Club has also planted trees and bushes in memory of past members. Over the years the Hillsborough Garden Club has been listed almost continually on the State Garden Club Honor Roll, and the Club yearbook has often received recognition and ribbons. The goals of the club have always supported civic improvement. From its earliest inception, projects have stressed restoration and preservation of our heritage. State projects have been supported. These include the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, The Daniel Boone Native Gardens in Boone, the Restored Martha Frank Fragrance Garden for the Blind in Raleigh, the J. C. Raulston Arboretum and the Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill. Locally, the Garden Club participates in the maintenance of the garden at Burwell School, is responsible for the care of plants in the Town Solarium, participates in the removal of debris from 2 miles of state road, plants trees on Arbor Day, and assisted in the design and planting of a garden for children at the Whitted Forest Apartments. As a new project for this year, the Garden Club will participate in the planting and care of the flower containers on Churton Street. Also this year the Garden Club has been invited to join the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Garden Council. As today's Garden Club looks toward the future, it is important to honor the members whose vision of Hillsborough, planted 75 years ago, has grown with loving care and dedication into a special place we now call home. Each person here tonight has enjoyed the fruits of their labor. Thank you for showing your appreciation of these special people by being present tonight to celebrate 75 years of “preserving what is good, growing what is good and displaying what is good.”