Help keep the John Bell House’s vegetable gardens healthy!
Join First State Heritage Park at the John Bell House for a Garden Day! As a Garden Day volunteer, you will help the park maintain its three vegetable and herb gardens while engaging in historical interpretation. This experience also includes the opportunity to dress in historical clothing provided by the park.
On each First State Heritage Park Garden Day, volunteers can:
- Discover the plants in a colonial period garden and their uses
- Learn the basics of colonial period gardening
- Weed, water, and assist with plant maintenance as needed
- Give back to your community while enjoying Delaware’s first “urban park without boundaries”
Tools, including watering cans and gloves, will be provided by the park. Prior gardening experience is welcome, but not required.
First State Heritage Park has three gardens consisting of the colonial garden, the enslaved person’s garden, and the Indigenous garden. The colonial bed features herbs, lettuce, radishes and more which could all be found in a modest colonial family’s kitchen garden. The enslaved person’s garden displays the methods of gardening enslaved people used to grow crops, as well as the foods that helped them maintain connections to their African heritage, such as peppers and collard greens. The Indigenous garden exhibits the Three-Sisters method of planting with corn, beans, and squash.
Meeting place: John Bell House, 43 The Green, Dover, DE 19901; volunteers wishing to dress in 18th century clothing should plan to meet at Rose Cottage, 102 S State Street, Dover, DE 19901
Parking: Volunteers may park in spaces along the streets around The Green or alongside Rose Cottage
The first First State Heritage Park Garden Day is planned for July 27, from 10 AM to 12 PM, to support park staff and other volunteers in the efforts to maintain these gardens. If you have any questions, please contact Luvina Cooley.
