Submitted by Elizabeth Malloy, Executive Director, Haddam Historical Society
(June 29, 2023) — The gardens at the Thankful Arnold House Museum are at their peak right now and we encourage residents, neighbors, and friends to stop by and enjoy them anytime from dawn until dusk. The gardens feature more than fifty varieties of herbs used in the early 1800s for cooking, dyeing, fragrance, and medicine.
A highlight this year is our artistically designed vegetable plot, which showcases plants and flowers that may have found their way by steam power or wind in 1840 to a garden bed in the Connecticut River Valley from somewhere near or far away. Designed by Master Gardener Diane Gawronski, the garden features a swath of Utrecht Blue Wheat representing the Connecticut River, which is flanked by specimens from all over the world, including Bull Nose Pepper from the West Indies, and Globe Artichoke from southern Europe. Although many of these plants would have been novelties in the 1840’s most have become staples in our modern gardens including leek, lettuce, celery and Brussels sprouts.
The Thankful Arnold House Museum is located at 14 Hayden Hill Road in Haddam. More information can be found at www.haddamhistory.org. Garden brochures are located near the arbor.
Photo provided by Haddam Historical Society
