February 27, 2019
Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,
The winter doldrums sometimes enable one, squirrel-like, to dig up interesting acorns from the nearly limitless Samuel Untermyer newspaper archives. So it was with great interest that Cathy Michelsen, our development officer, unearthed a World article from 1909 announcing that Minnie Untermyer had joined the suffrage cause. What caught our attention was that she had previously been against suffrage and had then switched sides, at last joining her husband, who had always supported suffrage.
In his inimitable and vivid style, Samuel Untermyer had this to say about suffrage:
"Women are eligible with men for the electric chair, the prison, and the tax roll. It seems intolerable that they should be ineligible for the ballot, the jury box, and to have their part in the framing of laws under which they are required to live."
Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,
The winter doldrums sometimes enable one, squirrel-like, to dig up interesting acorns from the nearly limitless Samuel Untermyer newspaper archives. So it was with great interest that Cathy Michelsen, our development officer, unearthed a World article from 1909 announcing that Minnie Untermyer had joined the suffrage cause. What caught our attention was that she had previously been against suffrage and had then switched sides, at last joining her husband, who had always supported suffrage.
In his inimitable and vivid style, Samuel Untermyer had this to say about suffrage:
"Women are eligible with men for the electric chair, the prison, and the tax roll. It seems intolerable that they should be ineligible for the ballot, the jury box, and to have their part in the framing of laws under which they are required to live."
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Over the past five months, Glencar Water Gardens has been working diligently to rebuild the newest part of our historic landscape, the Rock Garden. Located near the Temple of Love, it was not part of Welles Bosworth's original design but was added by Untermyer around 1931. It was not built as well as the earlier 1917 work, and so was more subject to deterioration. It had disappeared under the wild overgrowth by 2012, when Timothy Tilghman and I rediscovered it.
Well, the hardscape is now complete, and the new Rock Garden is better than ever. It has multiple pools and falls, including one nearly six feet tall. Giant, thick slabs of bluestone act as bridges, which will bear the weight of our heavy equipment. We have also included a stone "throne" in the middle of the stream, on which one can sit to gaze over the scene. Finally, an overlook with a new stone bench replaces one that was lost.
This restored space will become a major garden, the equal of the Temple of Love. Over the next two years, our gardeners will plant it with a profusion of woody and herbaceous sun-loving plants. This area of the garden will be filled with brilliant plants and the sound of falling water. We did a one-day test of the system and captured it on video:
Well, the hardscape is now complete, and the new Rock Garden is better than ever. It has multiple pools and falls, including one nearly six feet tall. Giant, thick slabs of bluestone act as bridges, which will bear the weight of our heavy equipment. We have also included a stone "throne" in the middle of the stream, on which one can sit to gaze over the scene. Finally, an overlook with a new stone bench replaces one that was lost.
This restored space will become a major garden, the equal of the Temple of Love. Over the next two years, our gardeners will plant it with a profusion of woody and herbaceous sun-loving plants. This area of the garden will be filled with brilliant plants and the sound of falling water. We did a one-day test of the system and captured it on video:
And a final reminder of our annual Winter Lecture, "Paradise Found: The Gardens of Mughal India." The Walled Garden at Untermyer is an Indo-Persian garden, so it is especially fascinating to learn more about Indian gardens, which were an important source of inspiration for Welles Bosworth some 300 years later. The first book in English on Mughal gardens was published in 1913 by Constance Mary Villiers-Stuart, and we know that it was in Bosworth's library.
I invite you to join me as we explore the gardens created by the Mughal emperors, the leaders of the richest empire in the world at the time. Tickets are mostly sold, so please avoid disappointment by purchasing yours today.
Kind regards,
Stephen F. Byrns
President, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy
Stephen F. Byrns
President, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy
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