Hidden beauty
Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church's award-winning, serene sanctuary
By Jennifer Grant, jlgrant@naplesnews.com Naples Daily News March 5, 2005, p. D1
It's a hidden haven that not even all of the parishioners are familiar with — a tiny, postage stamp of a spot that sometimes goes hours or even days without being used.
But here it sits nestled in front of Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church under a blooming flower of stained glass and behind some blushing walls of cement, offering those in need a place to meditate, or just to contemplate the day.
It's the Frank T. Mohr Jr. Memorial Garden. And this spot is so special is that it won a state award from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs.
It doesn't matter that it measures a mere 25-by-25-feet; its beauty goes well beyond its confines. Catherine Cummings, head curator of this little hideaway garden, explains this as she squeaks open the wrought iron gate to share her pride and joy.
"We thought about other places," she says, quietly, as if afraid to disturb the serenity. But somehow the front of the church seems appropriate, as a way to welcome everyone into their home. She mentions that in the beginning, though, the thought was to keep the gates locked so the beauty wouldn't ever be marred.
That's not the point of this place, she says, her lips pursed in perseverance. It's to be shared and admired by anyone who feels the need to set foot here.
The garden was started in the late 1990s by church member Elizabeth Chubbs, but after her death Cummings took over, even finding a landscape architect to help her and her group of gardeners.
"If you believe in acts of God, this was one," she says, winking and singing the praises of David Driapsa, who helped her committee, and made their dream garden a reality.
It's a tiny oasis, where the cacophony of cars and trucks trundling along Immokalee Road are drowned out by the tinkling of water in a symbolic fountain.
"I am the Resurrection and the Life," reads an inscription on a fountain, as a slate of water is delivered through a wall. And standing knee deep in the drink are two bronze birds that have grown green from the weather — one with its head bowed in prayer and the other looking skyward toward the heavens.
"I never noticed that," Cummings says of the symbolism of the birds.
But she attempted some of her own.
"I tried to think of plants with Biblical connections," Cummings says, pointing out the rainbow-colored Joseph's Coat she planted a couple of months back. There are colorful irises, fountain grass and a crown of thorns, as well as pink hibiscus peaking out from the garden.
"The plants have filled in," she says, as she picks up some stray leaves scattered on the pavers of the garden.
There's a concrete bench here, too, where one can sit and contemplate or stare at the fountain and let its eloquent words sink in. There are also three specific things that the garden symbolizes: faith, baptism and resurrection.
As for faith, a symbolic cross reaches out in the form of pavers, extending to the garden's sides. The pattern is completed by the form of the fountain's pool that is flush against the church's wall and represents baptism.
The resurrection is suggested not only by the words on the fountain, but the single cross high on the steeple above the church, soaring toward heaven.
Why would such a tiny garden win a state award?
"We wanted to put this on the map," says Lois Allen, a congregant at Vanderbilt Presbyterian, also the chairwoman of District 9 Landscape Design Consultants for the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs.
"It's a very good secret," and one she's wanted to share for years.
"This is so unique and such a comfortable place to be," Allen notes. It's also the resting place for 14 souls who've passed on. Under the pavers of the memorial garden are enough spots for the cremated remains of 400 people.
"This is really a perfect spot," Allen says. And both she and Cummings smile at a job well-done.
"Gardens are therapeutic," Allen adds. "This one is a spiritual experience."
Copyright © 2005 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved.
Published in Naples, Florida, USA. A Scripps newspaper.
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