Yesterday afternoon John Byrd brought a flash drive of Hodges Gardens images. Several are of early construction years when his father C.B. Byrd consulted and managed park operations. In anticipation of John’s arrival at the upcoming morning meeting, I transferred the files onto my computer here at the office. John offered to sit down and chat about the history captured in the photos, so I look forward to our meeting again in a week or so.
After reviewing my knowledge on Hare & Hare, I was ready to meet with folks over the landscape architectural drawings. It was a casual meeting, and our main goal was to facilitate everyone’s interest in viewing the scanned drawings. Several of us gathered in the conference room here at NCPTT:
– Raymond Berthelot, Chief of Interpretive Services, Office of State Parks (Louisiana) [ In Natchitoches today for a meeting as well, Ray brought the scanned drawings from his office in Baton Rouge ].
– Kim Kelly, Manager of Hodges Gardens State Park
– John Byrd, President of the Friends of Hodges Gardens
– Kirk Cordell, Executive Director, NCPTT
– Kevin Ammons, Administrative Officer, NCPTT
– Debbie Smith, Chief of Historic Landscapes Program, NCPTT
– Addy Smith-Reiman, Intern at NCPTT
– Derek Linn, Intern at NCPTT
After brief introductions, we gave a quick introduction to the summer research. I shared a bit about Hare & Hare, as I believe this discovery of their involvement brings even more significance to this special place called Hodges Gardens.
Established in 1910, Hare & Hare are considered one of the pioneering firms that helped establish and bring to light the profession of landscape architecture in the United States (Birnbaum & Karson). I was glancing at the Hare & Hare entry in Birnbaum & Karson’s Pioneers of American Landscape Design, and found this: “Hare & Hare’s designs emphasized winding roads contoured to natural topography, the preservation of trees and valleys, and scenic vistas.” As Kim Kelly and John Byrd suggested previously, the landscape design was sensitive to, and benefitted from, the natural and quarry-influence topography. This really rings true to much of what one sees at Hodges Gardens today.
Opening the first file from the My Computer menu was like unwrapping a birthday present 10 years ago. The 20+ scanned drawings were both interesting and beautiful. Notably, several of the drawings communicated elements and designs that are not present today. Though our investigation will continue, it appears that many of these such examples were preliminary drawings—a couple offering two or three design alternatives.
The drawings were in plan, section, and perspective views; a few sheets focus on construction details. Some focused on the Old Fashioned Rose Garden, the present-day Willow Point Fountain area, and the triangular gift shop approach up the hill.
The first page that we viewed was a Hare & Hare planting list for the Old Fashioned Rose Garden. The following note is included: ‘plant names in this list are in accordance with “Standardized Plant Names” Second Edition, 1942 – American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature.
Special thanks to Raymond Berthelot for stopping by and sharing the images.
Exploring Hodges Gardens 