Stop by the Landsberger Learning Garden behind the Crane House and Historic YWCA and you may notice a few things look different. We’ve repaired the brick edging, making the six garden beds nice and tidy and we’ve installed a flagstone path in each of the two larger beds. The new pathways make it easier to tend the gardens and are great for a close-up look at the garden’s interior plants.

You’re welcome to explore the herbs, flowers, and plant-life that Montclairians grew over the past 250 years. Gardens of yesteryear were used for flavoring food, curing ills, and dying cloth. From peppermint that was used to soothe sour stomachs to beautiful tulips popping up in spring, experience what gardens in New Jersey would look like throughout history.

Within a few weeks we’ll have the plants labelled with official botanical markers so you can more easily identify them. We’ve also created a printed guide to the plants in the garden so you can see how our ancestors used them in the past. You can find the guide in the box located next to the hearth door kitchen or use the QR code on the Landsberger Learning Garden sign.

All this has been made possible through the dedication of volunteer gardeners and the Landsberger Foundation, which recently gave the Montclair History Center funds for the upgrades. The grant also included funds to increase the variety of herbs in the garden, which we will do in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. We are grateful for their support!

While you’re here, check out the Legacy Patio in the herb garden. Talk a walk along the Heritage Bricks, bought by members and supporters of the Montclair History Center, filled with messages that will forever lay here among the herbs and flowers.

Enjoy!