Garden Club Spruces Up Red Brick Schoolhouse Grounds

The overgrown grounds of an 1860 schoolhouse at a busy Chatham intersection recently were updated by a local gardening club with the guidance of an expert, donations from civic organizations and the help of a landscaper.

Plantings around the Red Brick Schoolhouse at Southern Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue became overgrown in the decades since they were planted in the 1960s.

The landscaping grew so much it began to obscure the features of the building, originally named the Mount Vernon Schoolhouse, that now houses the Chatham Township Historical Society.

Early this year, the Town and Country Garden Club, which also meets in the building, spearheaded a project to establish plantings that more closely reflected the original look of the building, but modified to add horticultural interest.

The Woman’s Club of the Chathams and the Chatham Jaycees generously donated funds to support the project, and horticultural expert and author Marta McDowell, a Chatham Township resident, prepared plans for historically appropriate and low maintenance plantings, the group said.

Green Path LandCare of Chatham rebuilt the wall with the original stone, and removed the yews and some rhododendrons while retaining the mature dogwood, oak and maple trees. The company also planted new shrubs and donated mulch and labor to the project, according to a Town and Country Garden Club news release.

Until the recent freeze, garden club members regularly watered the new plantings, which, once established, should need little day-to-day care.

"So, when next stopped at the traffic light at Fairmount and Southern look over at the south east corner of this intersection to the see the Red Brick Schoolhouse looking better than ever, and waiting to provide a visually arresting sight throughout the seasons," the club said.

The Town and Country Garden Club meets 11 a.m. the second Wednesday of the month, September though June, at the Red Brick Schoolhouse on Fairmount Avenue. Following a business meeting and lunch, members enjoy a speaker or program on matters horticultural and environmental.  The next meeting open to visitors is Wednesday, Jan. 8, and the speaker will discuss New Jersey coyotes.  

For more information call Virginia Hofler at 973-443-4323.