 Club History
| The purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement. |
| Founded in 1914 in the heart of the spectacular Hudson Highlands, the Philipstown Garden Club's constitution clearly expressed the motives of the women who were its charter members: | "The objective of this Club is to further interest in gardens, their design and management, to share the advantages of association through the exchange of personal experience, to stimulate the amateur production of flowers and vegetables, to aid in the protection of trees, wild flowers and birds." |
| In 1918, the PGC was nominated for membership in the Garden Club of America where it has remained an active participant for eight decades. Since that time, subsequent members of the PGC have managed with great success to follow this succinct mission of the Club's founders, and to add new elements of their own -- such as protection of the environment, scholarships for budding gardeners, and local beautification projects. |
| How has the PGC fulfilled its mission during the last eighty five years? It has helped to save historical gardens (for example, Anna Warner's garden on Constitution Island); maintained the herb garden at Boscobel Restoration on the Hudson River; planted innumerable trees and gardens in the Philipstown area; organized, participated and won prizes in national flower shows; won medals for horticultural innovations; cleaned up and beautified hospitals, waterfronts, schools, railway stations, parks and highways; offered scholarships to young people interested in careers in horticulture and gardening; and battled on behalf of major environmental issues (such as the famous Storm King controversy in the Hudson Valley which has been described as giving birth to the modern environmental movement.) Quite a record! |
| As it enters the next millenium, the Philipstown Garden Club continues to muster its energies to meet future challenges, and in the words of one of its most distinguished members and historian, "to show even greater energy, foresight, and concern in cherishing what nature has given us in the midst of the magnificence of our home in the Hudson Highlands." |
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