For nearly fifty years, the library in Petersburg stored a collection of 325 pressed plants and 238 watercolor paintings depicting what hundreds of women used to build a 330-acre bird and wildlife sanctuary in what was then known as Lee Park.
“To create not only a sanctuary for wildlife and for the flora and fauna of Virginia but to create a community space where people could come together," Thoroman explains.
A show of dried plants, photos and paintings is now on display in the garden's library. It tells the story of predominantly Black women hired by the federal government to restore nature.
“They actually did transplant in 365,000 plants coming from all over Virginia. The back-breaking work of creating it, done by women, is pretty remarkable, and that’s the story we really wanted to elevate," Thoroman says.
It also celebrates the little-known artist who painted plants in great detail. Bessie Neimeyer Marshall was the mother of nine, and had no formal training.
Today, the area is known as Legends Park but the nature center is all but abandoned.
“There is very little left of the infrastructure and the actual planting design," Thoroman adds. "It’s kind of overgrown. There are signs there to tell people generally what it’s about, but it needs some restoration.”
Now, with a $76,000 grant, students from Virginia State are working with the Willcox Watershed Conservancy to bring back the trails, signs and benches Installed between 1935 and 1940.
In the meantime, the botanical garden welcomes visitors to the show – called Women’s Work – and the public can take a look at the collection of pressed plants and paintings on Lewis Ginter’s website. The show, funded in part by Virginia Humanities, continues through October 12.
For more information: go to
https://www.lewisginter.org/visit/exhibitions/#womenswork
and
https://virginiahumanities.org/2024/04/lewis-ginter-botanical-garden-womens-work-grant/#:~:text=Botanical%20watercolor%20illustrations%20of%20the%20native
