Somerset Garden Club PO Box 502 Somerset, MA  02726

PRESIDENT: Deborah St Pierre

The club meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM at the American Legion Hall on Roosevelt Avenue. Most meetings are open with the exception of workshops, which are for members only.

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HISTORY 

The Somerset Garden Club was founded in 1980 and joined the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc. in 1983. In 1996 the Garden Club also joined the RI Federation of State Garden Clubs, Inc. becoming the fourth Massachusetts club to belong to the RI Federation - following Attleboro, Rehoboth and Swansea. The Swansea club has since disbanded. The Somerset roster includes members who live in Somerset, Swansea, Dighton, Westport and Tiverton and Johnston RI.

The club has participated in Dighton Day Lily Shows and in 1993 it had its first standard flower show under President Carol Francis. It held ”Poetry in Bloom” in 1998 under co-presidents Christina Wordell and Joan Smith and its first garden tour “Through the Garden Gate” in 1999 with Joan Smith as chairwoman. Member Ada Jill Schneider composed poetry verses for the tour schedule.
Members have taken part in the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Federation Flower Shows in both adult and youth divisions and the Barnstable Flower Show as well.

In the spring of 1999 the club held its first annual plant sale to benefit a scholarship fund that was set up to honor its first president, the late Beth Burbank. Her granddaughter won the first scholarship in 2000. The plant sale has been an annual event since then. This year2010 the club may give an additional scholarship in memory of Constance Agrella, the long time membership and scholarship chairwoman.

The Somerset Garden Club has won several state awards for its yearbooks and town gardens, as well as the RI Silver Trowel Award for the 2003 garden tour “Special Places.”

In 2009 the club revived its junior garden club with Jill Gilmore as the chairperson.  The South School Crickets Garden Club is flourishing with a new generation of potential members. Also resurrected this same year was its garden therapy committee. Mary Martha Murphy and her crew of two: JoAnn Johnson and Ann Whalen have taken over the herb garden and rose garden at the Community Connections, Inc. CCI services handicapped adults in the Bristol County area.

The club also is involved in several town projects to further support gardening and beautifying the community. Attached is a photo of the entry of the Nathan Slade Cemetery, a project of the Town Beautification Committee.