Three Rivers Garden Club History
“After Sixty Years”
A dream came true in November of 1949 when ladies interested in
gardening met with the extension committee of Garden Study Garden Club to choose
officers, committee chairmen and by laws which would organize a new garden
club. Following this preliminary planning, an official meeting to form Three Rivers Garden Club was held on
January 25, 1950 at the home of a charter member. Three Rivers became the ninth
garden club in Rome, Ga. Mrs. Harold Hunter, President of Rome Federated Garden
Clubs assisted with this meeting and recommended at the next Federation meeting
on March 8, 1950 that Three Rivers be accepted for membership.
There were 23 charter members. Sixty years later none of those
ladies are still alive, but they have left a legacy of active garden club
members. Edith Gray and Jo Holder were invited to join in the late1950s and
Mary Louise Dixon and Georgia Burns in the late1970s. All these ladies have
been continuous members who have actively participated in all phases of the club,
from holding office to planting and cleaning our garden spots. Two additional
members, Linda Dean and Julienne Martin, have now achieved 20-year-member
status.
Three Rivers has a beautification heritage in Rome that began in
late1960 when they decided to improve an area in downtown Rome. A quote from
the February 2, 1961 newspaper states, “The most conspicuous civic
beautification project in Rome is the miniature public park on Fifth Ave.
beside the Forrest Hotel. Everyone having anything to do with this project has
the thanks of every Roman who appreciates passing an area of beauty, especially
when it was formerly such an unattractive spot along the city’s main street.”
The park was designed by Thomas Williams of UGA who provided the blueprint including
Ginkgo trees, Burfordi Holly, Convexa Holly and Azaleas. Three Rivers
won the HANDS award of $50 that year for the best urban renewal project for
this Forrest Garden.
In 1976 when the reclaimed train station was installed on Civic
Center Hill to serve as the Rome Welcome Center, Three Rivers again saw a need
to beautify an unsightly spot. No other club had two garden spots, but the need
was so great to have a lovely place for visitors and prospective new residents
to come to for information, that this area was landscaped and is still
maintained by the club. Unfortunately as the size of the club decreased over
the years, it became difficult to continue the high level of work and money required
to plant and maintain two such large areas. The city took over the Forrest
Garden and eventually another club adopted it when they were forced to abandon
their garden spot.
Beautification continued when it was our turn again to lead the
Federation Project. We chose Pathways of Gold for the Olympic year (1996) and
encouraged Rome to plant golden areas accented with the colors of the banners we
placed all over town to celebrate the Olympics. The beautification and
educational events won awards from The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc.
Our members have been willing to serve as officers and/or
chairmen not only for Three Rivers, but also Rome Federated Garden Clubs,
Laurel District and The Garden Club of Georgia. From 1991-93 Georgia Burns served
as Federation President and Mary Louise held this office from 2007-09. Georgia
has served on the Laurel District Board since 1991, was elected Co Director
for 2 year terms in both 2001 and 2007 and served 5 years on the Garden Club of
Georgia Board from 1998-2003. Mary Louise has served two years on the Laurel
Board. Courses provided by
Many awards have been won over the years and we hope to continue
our tradition with our new web site and leadership again for the Federation
project this term with Cultivating Young Minds, a hands-on gardening education
program for the children at the new Boys and Girls Club.
This article was written by Georgia Burns in September 2009 from
information in old scrapbooks and other sources.