CHESTERTOWN — The Chestertown Garden Club is launching a fundraising drive to upgrade Memorial Park located in the heart of the downtown.
To complete Phase 1, the garden club, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is seeking $8,500 in grant matching funds to install a brick walkway in the park.
Designed by a local landscape architect, the brick pathway, along with other improvements, will provide “a more meaningful experience” for Kent County veterans, citizens and visitors, according to a garden club news release.
The brick walkway is a project that garden club members approved several years ago.
Memorial Park, dedicated in 1899, is home to six monuments. They are listed in online databases such as the National War Memorial Registry and the Historical Marker database which attract many visitors to Kent County.
Located on High Street between North Cross Street and Court Street, Memorial Park also is the center of several events, most notably a parade on Memorial Day.
“But with frequently muddy paths and no cohesive landscape plan, Memorial Park needs a major renovation in order to better serve the community, welcome visitors and become an inviting, accessible memorial that honors Kent County’s service men and women,” the news release states.
Recognizing this need, the garden club contacted local landscape architect Robin Hanway, who donated her time and vision to create a design that features an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant brick walkway connecting the monuments, native planting beds and benches for quiet contemplation.
ShoreRivers has shown its support by donating eight Emerald Sentinel eastern red cedar trees and dozens of herbaceous perennials and native shrubs that already have been planted.
Although this garden club project has the support of the Town of Chestertown, funds for completion need to be raised from the community.
The Chestertown Garden Club received a generous matching grant from a local foundation to be used for the brick walkway, and has donated $8,500 of its own funds toward the match.
The Phase 1 fundraising goal is to raise the additional $8,500 to match the grant in order to install the brick walkway by July 4, 2026 — in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
According to a garden club spokesperson, the actual laying of the bricks would take only about a week and no monuments would be moved.
Tax-deductible contributions payable to the Chestertown Garden Club should be mailed to P.O. Box 415, Chestertown, MD 21620, with “Memorial Park” in the memo line.
For more information about the project, email MemorialParkFundraiser@gmail.com.
Phase 2 of the fundraising efforts, to support the installation of benches and other amenities, will be announced at a later date.
