The only structure that appeared still intact from the first superintendent’s home at the Belchertown State School was a century-old stone wall outlining a small grassy plot at 47 State St.

At least that’s what residents believed until three years ago, when Michael Vinsh felt something hard under the grass as he and members of a newly formed McPherson Sensory Garden Committee checked out a location to revive a sensory garden originally cultivated for the blind unit at the old State School.

As the group wondered where to begin their work, Vinsh toed at the grass near the entrance of the patch of overgrown grass, bittersweet and poison ivy along the wall, expecting it to give way. Instead, his foot hit something hard.

When Vinsh called out to the group about his finding, Sharon Marean, clerk of the committee, assumed it was a plaque for the garden from the 1970s that gave information about the site’s history as a sensory garden. But it wasn’t a plaque; it was the first stone of a path that stretched around the garden and into the adjacent woods.

“This place has been so serendipitous. We just keep finding things that we didn’t know [existed],” Marean said. “Michael found a well that nobody knew anything about, just uncovered it one Saturday. Somebody found an old key here and left it for us, hung in a tree.”

The path, lost in history, now serves as the starting point for the new McPherson Sensory Garden for the modern Belchertown community. The garden is named after George McPherson, the first superintendent of the Belchertown State School. Over the next three years, a group of devoted volunteers pulled up grass, roots and weeds over 6 inches deep to unveil more of the path, then planted the first flowers in newly established beds.

With the donated time, labor and flowers from community members, the once-neglected area, stained by the history of the State School, has become a place of beauty and relaxation for children and adults alike.

“It’s been one of the most rewarding projects I have done in a long time,” said committee chair Patricia Barry. “There’s something that draws you to it and you want to make it better — when you see someone walk through it, it just makes you feel so happy.”

The garden is sectioned based on plant type and theme. Across the path, a “shape garden” arranges plants in beds of different shapes: large elephant ears shade a oval plot of flowers, scarlet runners climbing along makeshift trellis create a triangular pyramid, and an old home plate outlined in petunias forms a pentagon-like plot. Soft lamb’s-ear from Marean’s home garden lines the back wall as a sensory plant.

“This is a sensory garden, so right away you touch the lamb’s ear — it really does feel like the lamb,” Marean said. “We’re looking for things that smell good, things that make some noise, like the zebra grass makes a rustling noise when the wind blows.”

A nod to history

Despite most of the plants and decor — including a snake of stones painted by children during the garden’s open house earlier this year — catering to the senses, the centerpiece of the garden harkens back to the history of the property. A life-size scarecrow sculpted by Michael Michelle tends to the rose bushes surrounding it, the only flower on the plot that committee members confirmed to be in the State School’s sensory garden during the 1970s.

“I know two people who taught (in the blind unit) during that time, and one of them told me that she brought her kids over and let them romp around in this space and it was roses in the middle at that time,” Marean said. “That seemed a good enough reason to put roses in the middle, so that’s what we did.”

The committee also discovered a blueprint of the landscaping for the superintendent’s house from 1926 that outlines the location of fruit trees and bushes, flowers and experimental gardening beds.

McPherson’s wife, Mabel Alden Forrest McPherson, tended to the garden and delivered flowers and produce she grew to residents of the State School.

In another corner of the garden, a dogwood tree next to a small bench pays tribute to the history of the new sensory garden. Bruce Klockars, a former member of the Historical Commission, surveyed the superintendent’s home and the stone wall with the rest of the commission and his family before his death in 2022, hoping to restore the house to its former glory. He determined that the structure was too damaged to repair, but the stone wall remained intact, inspiring Klockars to brainstorm ways to revive the old garden.

Barry credits Klockars with the idea of the modern McPherson Sensory Garden, and his wife, Eileen Klockars, donated a dogwood tree and bench as tributes to her late husband’s hard work and dream.

“My connection is really a family connection, because when one person in the family is on a town committee, everyone else gets dragged in,” Eileen Klockars said.

Volunteer project

Most of the plants in the garden were bought by volunteers or donated by community members. A plot of sunflowers and other yellow and orange annuals in one corner of the garden, for instance, sits near a wheelchair-accessible raised bed of herbs. A local Girl Scout Troop planted the flowers, and a couple young dads inspired by their daughters’ generosity donated the home-built raised bed.

A dahlia garden sponsored by Pretty Pickings is curated and cared for by Renate Robinson. Lou and Peg Louraine planted a flame thrower redbud tree for some height variety, and its signature red leaves have begun poking out.

“We don’t want it to be a formal garden. We want people to feel comfortable there,” Barry said. “We want them to walk through there and touch and the plants, and moving forward we want to add more physical items for the kids to look at and play with.”

Barry hopes to add a couple more flower beds and interactive elements, but without town funding, the committee has very little resources to expand. Besides some occasional help from Department of Public Works employees and access to grant money, all funding and is provided by volunteers and committee members. Volunteers meet every Friday morning to care for the garden, but Barry said any interested resident can come anytime to help pull weeds to mow the grass. Donations to the garden must be sent to Town Hall and earmarked for the committee.

The time and money invested into the garden has already garnered attention from Belchertown residents. Marean said the garden is frequented by people reading and meditating, and Barry often sees children from Swift River visiting “the ruins,” after school. A few weeks ago, a father stopped by with his daughter and told Barry he was in shock that the project was entirely run by volunteers. Then, he thanked Barry for her hard work in creating a beautiful space.

“That says it right there: that the kids like to go,” Barry said. “The work we’re doing is good work.”

Emilee Klein can ber reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.