Grants help to fund restoration of garden to its state of splendor in the 1940s

Tommy Aiken, reporter

J.C. Albritton, editor

MOUNT BERRY — Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum received a $2,000 grant in August for the continuing restoration of a historical hillside garden at the museum.

The Garden Club of Georgia, which awards grants to gardens in Georgia that are at least 50 years old and open to the public, also awarded Oak Hill with a $3,000 grant in 2006.

“Bringing back the hillside garden will return the balance of gardens as Martha Berry and her landscape architect, Robert Cridland, intended,” said Whit Whitaker, Berry’s chief of staff.

Tim Brown, director of Oak Hill and The Martha Berry Museum

After Martha Berry’s death in 1942, the hillside garden was no longer maintained and soon was overtaken by overgrowth. It hasn’t been a garden since then, said Tim Brown, director of Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum.

“We’ve been maintaining most of the main historic gardens, but this is one that’s just been in the woods,” Brown said. “We’re getting rid of all the vines and invasive species.”

Though Berry’s grounds crews mow the museum’s lawns and do routine outdoor maintenance, Oak Hill has hired private companies to restore the garden. Brown said the work will be done in stages until it is completed in about a year. By doing it in stages, the museum can better manage the cost of the restoration.

“Little by little we’re getting there,” he said.

To pay for the restoration, Oak Hill is also planning some fundraising events, Brown said, including a garden party in the spring. Brown said he plans to make garden parties a regular event at the museum.

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