Work is progressing on the brick walkways at the Thomas Jefferson Gardens in Jefferson. According to Don Orris, a member of the Thomas Jefferson Gardens of Greene County board of directors, 55 pallets of bricks, or about 22,700, will be laid for walkways that are functional and also enhance the beauty of the Gardens.
Orris has spent uncounted hours on the project. As a farmer works to get harvest done while the weather is right, Orris and a crew from Bendickson Horticulture is working past dark to complete the walkways before colder weather sets in.
The Thomas Jefferson Gardens of Greene County seek to honor agriculture and education, and the accomplishments of Thomas Jefferson as a statesman, scholar, architect, inventor and farmer.
Total cost of the Thomas Jefferson Gardens is $425,000, with funds coming from an initial gift from Wallace Teagarden of $50,000, and from a variety of other sources. The Jefferson Rotary Club funded and built the columned pavilion on the southwest corner of the Garden this past summer. Cost of the walkways alone is $50,000, Orris said. Of that, $35,000 was paid for by a grant from the Greene County Community Foundation.
At the same time, a collaborative effort of the Greene County Chamber, Jefferson Matters: Main Street, the Thomas Jefferson Gardens board, Greene County Development Corporation and other community groups has turned to the former Kingsgate Insurance building, which sits on the Gardens site, as a future welcome center for the downtown area and the entire county. According to Ben Yoder, total cost of the welcome center project is estimated at $290,000. Organizers are seeking to raise $160,000 in corporate and private donations.
Details of a fund drive for the welcome center will be announced next month, Yoder said.
