SHREWSBURY — A park in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, wants to give visitors a place to reconnect with nature. A nonprofit organization is trying to bring back a garden that has been lost to time.
“A huge treasure”
Shrewsbury has wide open spaces to get outside, like Ski Ward, but if you’d rather hike uphill than downhill, there’s Prospect Park.
“The entire park is a magical place, it’s a tremendous treasure for the city,” said Bill Davis, president of the nonprofit Friends of Prospect Park.
The 75 acres of wooded trails and paths offer hikers a place to relax and recharge. It is intended for passive recreation, meaning there are no playgrounds or other manicured or landscaped areas. As Davis explained, visitors “come here for the peace and the beauty, the nature.”
Davis also explained that the park wasn’t always like this. “The vegetation was way above my shoulders. So we’ve been working on it for decades, I think.”
Restore garden
Founded in 2003, Friends of Prospect Park has reclaimed parts of the park that have been lost to nature, with an impeccably restored English garden at its heart.
“We have over 400 plants planted here,” Davis said.
Carpet magnate Matthew Whittall built a hilltop mansion there in 1912, but died ten years later. His widow Gertrude created the garden in his memory. She eventually donated the estate to the Grand Lodge of the Masons of Massachusetts. They used it as a retirement home. The city bought the estate and the building was torn down. From then on, time and nature took their toll.
“At one point it was literally a lost garden. In some cases it was called a secret garden,” Davis said.
The Friends have been busy showing the garden to the public, hosting events and volunteering their time and effort to landscape the area. Davis said they have only explored about half of the garden.
“Every year we can go a little further and capture more of the original garden,” Davis said.
It’s a labor of love that brings Bill and the Friends back. When asked when he thought the work would be done, he replied, “The Friends’ work will never be done!”
Chris Tanaka
