NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Deep in the Mermaid City lies an enchanting oasis with 175 acres of lush green space and a majestic tale as old as time, and while a bigger and brighter future awaits the Norfolk Botanical Garden, humble roots and hard labor are the beginning of its story.
More than 80 years of history make up what the Norfolk Botanical Garden is today. It’s transformation took shape in 1938, when its founders, Frederic Heutte and Thomas P. Thompson brought to life an evergreen dream. The two hired 200 Black women and 20 Black men to clear the land to make way for the garden.
The time marked the Great Depression when former U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt was in office. At the time, 25% of the American population was unemployed. Roosevelt set afloat a Works Progress Administration nationwide, providing grants to cities to help get people back to work. The city of Norfolk received $76,000 in grant funds.
The city designated a swamp,” said Martha Williams, a historian with Norfolk Botanical Garden. “It was a total of a little over 100 acres, and nobody had ever walked on this land totally uninhabited. And they asked those ladies if they would clear this swamp and build an Azalea Garden.”
That hard labor by those men and women laid the foundation for the garden’s first of many chapters to come.
“Those women started in September 1938, and believe it or not, by March 1939, they had planted 4,000 azaleas, 2,000 rhododendrons, thousands of camellias and 100 bushels of dandelions,” Williams said. “They say that the men sharpened the tools. This garden wouldn’t be here without those women.”
Norfolk Botanical Garden was originally inspired by a quaint azalea garden in Charleston, South Carolina. The funnel-shaped flower’s influential presence is still distinct throughout the vegetation today.
The founder’s vision really was to plant these azaleas and to bring people to Norfolk, but also to this beautiful garden,” said Nathaniel Cody, Norfolk Botanical Garden digital content and marketing project manager. “We keep that alive by continuing to develop new gardens. So the garden that you see today, it’s not the same garden you saw 20 years ago.”
It’s now home to 60-plus themed gardens outlined by Lake Whitehurst. Now sowing a seed into the future is the planting and building of the Garden of Tomorrow. It’s the garden’s largest expansion to date and most impactful project in the CEO’s eyes.
The scale is just tremendous,” said Peter Schmidt, Norfolk Botanical Garden CEO. “And it’s everything from building one of the largest conservatories on the East Coast to introducing one of the largest permanent Chihuly collections on the East Coast, also, building a 26,000-square-foot conservatory to house the rare and endangered plants and building an environmental education center to allow our students and the community to learn more about plants and learn more about science.”
The Garden of Tomorrow will feature an exclusive collection by world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. One of the pieces showcased will be named the Azalea Chandelier, tying to the Norfolk Botanical Garden’s history and the 220 African American women and men who helped start its development.
The Garden of Tomorrow is expected to be completed later this year.
