St. George Village Botanical Garden (SGVBG) Executive Director Sarah Brady announced several grant-supported projects during a recent volunteer appreciation event.
According to Brady, they are as follows:
“The Coastal Plant and Seed Project through DPNR – we are working on a grant to propagate 1300 seedlings to provide back to DPNR through East End Marine Park to help mitigate coastal erosion. We are propagating specific species that are drought-resistant, such as orange manjack, sea lavender, sea grapes, buttonwood, and pink poui. These plants will ideally be given to residents who live along the coast.“
“We received a $2.5 million grant through the USDA’s Urban and Community Forest Program as part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. This grant contract will be executed shortly and it’s a four-year grant to assist with climate change and the planting of trees in underserved communities. We have plans to plant 1,100 trees at the garden, provide over 850 trees to the public school system, and become a level two accredited arboretum by the end of the four-year grant program. We also have funding to hire a full-time education coordinator as a large portion of the grant funds educational programs at the garden. We will be embarking on an archaeological dig at the garden in our proposed planting area since the property is so archaeologically dense and we want to be sensitive to what and where we are planting. We have goals to plant tropical spice, fruit, and nut trees specifically.”
The SGVBG received a grant from Cruzan Rum’s Island Spirit Fund to refurbish the manager’s house on-site. Work will include repairing the roof and shutters and working on the inside of the building. The upstairs of the property is an apartment. The ground floor houses the garden’s herbarium (dried and pressed plants cataloged by family/genus/species and when and where they were collected). More than 6,000 specimens were gathered on St. Croix in the 1970s and 80s.
The work on the manager’s house, located close to the Bodine Visitor Center, is underway. The roof has been repaired and replaced. Hurricane shutters are being refurbished.
Historian George F. Tyson wrote in his 1993 paper, St. George Plantation, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. During the period of Danish Rule (1734 – 1917), the manager’s house dates between 1815, when it is not listed, and 1825, when it is first recorded. By 1829, if not earlier, it also had associated “outhouses.” An associated rainwater cistern was constructed in 1839. In 1869 it had a flat roof and a cistern, having been repaired after the 1967 earthquake. It was still inhabited in 1923.
The roof and shutters, installed in the 1980s, are the first phase of the rehabilitation project. Volunteers Paul DelRio, Mary Ann Mahoney and Susan Kraeger, president of the board of directors, have worked together to keep the work in compliance with local permitting and historic preservation guidelines.
Jan Magras, professional engineer, has evaluated the roof and building structure and discussed renovation plans with contractors and the State Historic and Preservation Office. Magras prepared engineering plans for submission to obtain building permits from DPNR.
Phase 1 of the project was completed in under a week by H & L Construction, LLC headed by Hiliary Marquis.
The Galvalume, a corrugated roofing material, is used widely throughout the territory. It is manufactured by B & B Manufacturing of St. Thomas. Christine Greaux assisted by reviewing the proposal with the B & B Management team and obtaining a generous donation to reduce the project cost.
The next phase is repair and installation of wooden hurricane shutters by Paul Harding. He is refurbishing the existing shutters on the manager’s house at a reduced hourly rate to help extend the availability of grant funds.
Phase 2 will include construction of the east and west porches and upgrades to the air conditioning system. Permits have been filed. Contractors will be announced as they are selected.
The St. George Village Botanical Garden, founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization of 16 acres, planted with over 1,000 plants and trees growing among ruins and repurposed buildings of an 18th-century Danish colonial sugarcane plantation. The St. George Village Botanical Garden is also now recognized as an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of the world’s arboreta and gardens dedicated to woody plants.
Become a member, a volunteer or both by contacting the SGVBG at https://www.thegardenstcroix.
