History
What do you call a group that likes to encourage and foster relationships among people who have a love of gardens, growing plants and liaise with the city for the beautification of the community? Well, you call them the Rose Garden Club of Liberty.
The Rose Garden of Liberty, NC was established in 1947. They are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. The main purpose was, then and now, to encourage and foster beautfication of the local area. The club presently maintains the Patterson Cottage Rose Garden, located across from the Liberty Public Library, Christmas decorations of natural items at the Patterson Cottage, Christmas luminaires at the Town Hall and provides floral arrangements for four months of each year at the Liberty Library. These are just a few of the ongoing projects they conduct each year.
In addition to these are the fun activities they do outside the regular business meetings. The September meeting is kicked off by a dinner hosted by the president and the program chairperson. The final meeting for the year is held in May as a family picnic. In December, the spouses and friends are invited to a very special dinner held in various places.
The purpose of the club is to be involved, learn, share and be creative. This includes actual gardening projects, community projects, tours, field trips and craft projects. The club is affiliated with the Garden Clubs of NC. The current club is comprised of eleven members, of whom three have been presented with Life Memberships in the Garden Clubs of NC. They are Brenda Shelton, Doris Smith and Esther Butler.
Let's step back in time and see how this group got started. A meeting to organize the Rose Garden Club was held on Monday, May 19, 1947 at the home of Mrs. Vernon Jones. Mrs. Paul Wrenn explained the functions of the garden club. Both Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Wrenn were members of the Liberty Garden Club, under whose sponsorship the Rose Garden Club was organized. At this meeting officers of the new club were elected. The first officers and committee chairpersons were as follows: Presiden-Mrs. Don Kessler, Vice-President- Mrs. GC Crutchfield, Secretary/Treasure- Mrs. CE Fogleman, Reporter-Mrs. TC Howell, Tree Committee Chair-Mrs. Howard Swaim, Wildflower Committee Chair-Mrs. WL Carter, Horticulture Committee Chair-Mrs. Harold Frazier, Flower Arrangement Committee Chair-Mrs. Paul Hardin, and Scrapbook Chair-Mrs. BQ Johnson. The club held its first meeting for the 1947-48 year on September 12, 1947. This was a luncheon meeting at the home of Mrs. DC (Francine) Swaim. The table arrangements were done by Mrs. EB Wilkerson and the buffet arrangements were by Mrs. GC Crutchfield. The eleven charter members of the group were as follows: Mrs. WL Carter, Mrs. CE (Clay) Fogelman, Mrs Harold (Verla) Frazier, Mrs. Don Kessler, and Mrs. DC (Francine) Swaim, Mrs. Grover Crutchfield, Mrs. Paul Hardin, Mrs. TC Howell, Mrs. BQ Johnson, Mrs. Howard Swaim,and Mrs. EB Wilkerson. The members underlined are still living. The current members of the active Rose Garden club are Lisa Beavers, Esther Butler, Betty Johnson, Michelle Karam, Rosa Sharpe, Brenda Shelton, Maxine Shiver, Doris Smith, Nina Stout, Helen Teeter and the newest member, Amy Pulliam. The accomplishments over the past years of the garden club are so numerous to mention, so I have hit on some of the highlights of the years gone by. Throughout the 1940's signs of the times were ladies that stayed home in lieu of working outside the home.Through these years the club was instrumental in providing floral designs and arrangements and sponsoring flower shows for members and the community. Throughout the 1940's the club continued to be active in the community. In the 1950's flowers were the main attraction. To give an example of the many activities of the group, I randomly picked a typical year to include in this article. In March 1954, the Rose Garden Club sponsored the Bluebird Junior Garden Club that met at the Town Hall on the first Monday of each month. The 31 members were made up of third graders at Liberty School. In the picture you will see the dogwood tree planted by this new group in front of Liberty School. In October, 1954, the club spoinsored a flower show, open to the public, at the American Legion Hut. The Ben Ward Garden Project was planted that year. In the pictures you can see the group working to place flowers and trees along the railroad track and in front of the Liberty Train Depot. This is now the vacant lot across the street from the Liberty Chiropratric Center, formerly the Liberty Savings and Loan. There are several trees still standing. It is amazing to see how this group has worked to make our area more beautiful The club members designed, planted and maintained flower gardens at the Liberty Village Apartments. The Liberty Garden Council, comprised of three local clubs, iniated the Christmas tree lighting at the town hall, which led to the present day tree lighting ceremony at Christmas, Trips were taken to Chinquapin, Seagrove potteries, Bob Timberlake Gallery in Lexington, Seagrove Orchid Farms, the Arboretum in Raleigh, private gardens in the area, and decorated a home at Christmas for tour.
The Rose Garden's annual fund raiser is a plant sale, open to the public, in April. Contact a member for exact date, place and time. If you would like to be considered for membership in this great club, contact one of the following members, Brenda Shelton, at 622-2538, Nina Stout at 622-4768 or Maxine Shiver at 622-3354. Let them know that you would like more information about this group.