Spring has Sprung

The Garden Club of Jackson’s biennial tour will aid a historic cemetery in the capital city.

- NAN GRAVES GOODMAN

Founded in 1991, the Garden Club of Jackson began with 11 members at the home of Mary Sydney Green. Green had moved back home from New York, where she was a member of the Little Garden Club of Rye, New York. She saw firsthand the positive impact that clubs could have on local communities. Since its first meeting all those years ago, the organization has grown, and its stewardship of Jackson gardens has expanded. As a local affiliate of the National Garden Club of America, the club has always sought to conserve and enhance landmarks and gardens that are a part of the heritage of Jackson. In keeping with its purpose, it aims to support historic preservation, beautification, and civic improvement. Through monetary support, the club has had an ongoing role in the conservation of many historical sites, including Mynelle Gardens, the Eudora Welty House and Garden, and The Lowry House, to name a few.

This spring, another historic site will benefit from the club’s dedication to preservation. Greenwood Cemetery, which was officially established in 1823, is downtown Jackson’s nearly 200-year-old public cemetery and burial place of noted Jacksonians, as well as soldiers, Jackson mayors, and Mississippi governors. The cemetery will receive a large portion of the proceeds from this year’s spring tour. The tour will include five gardens and three homes located in northeast Jackson that will be open from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day. Garden club members will present the tour.