Massie Heritage Center Receives Prestigious Garden Award


Pat Ryan of the Garden Club of Savannah is shown in the Massie Heritage Gardens with the Mary Helen Ray silver bowl and certificate.
Pat Ryan of the Garden Club of Savannah is shown in the Massie Heritage Gardens with the Mary Helen Ray silver bowl and certificate.

The Garden Club of Savannah recently received the Mary Helen Ray Beautification and Historic Preservation Award for their complete restoration of the Massie Heritage Center gardens in 2012.

The restoration project included installation of a courtyard of pavers in the “girls” garden to match bricks laid at an earlier time, while adding new colorful plantings to regenerate the Victorian garden.

The Garden Club of Savannah spent over $9,000 in garden renovations. They continue to provide assistance with the garden maintenance, as they have for many years.

The Massie Common School was Georgia’s “first public school” and opened its doors in 1856. Boys and girls were separated in classrooms and in play yards, hence the “boys and girls” gardens.

Massie was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is now known as the Massie Heritage Center, an adjunct and learning center owned and operated by the Chatham County Board of Education as a museum for history and architecture.

The Massie Heritage Center Museum is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and the facility is available for event rentals. For further information, visit Massie- HeritageCenter.com


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