Wednesday, May 20, 2015
B1
Far and Near
ROSE-FILLED west planting area and Rotary pergola, at Smith Gardens’ peak of care in 2007. New
fundraising will provide for upgraded planting areas and new vegetation. In current photo below,
the walkways, benches, pergola and sweeping green lawns that comprise the largest park in down-
town Hood River.
Photo by Jim Haun
This spring and summer,
Hood River News’ Kaleido-
scope will feature places in
our own backyard and all
around the world, along with
the general array of B1 topics
Readers will see two recur-
ring themes as articles will
regularly touch on topics at
home and abroad, starting
with this week’s retrospective
on Georgianna Smith Gardens.
Look for:
■ Near — locales in the
Gorge such as Jackson Park in
Hood River and Mt. Hood Rail-
road terminus in Parkdale,
and;
■ Far — places as disparate
as Finland and Borneo, as we
begin a new rotation of “Trav-
elogues” written by local resi-
dents.
Photo by
Kirby Neumann-Rea
The Downtown
10 years after its expansion . . .
Georgiana Smith Gardens
undergoes more changes
In 2005, two years after the
successful expansion of the
Hood River County Library,
the grounds surrounding
the Jacobethan-style library
building were completely
renovated.
The adjoining lot to the
west was generously donat-
ed to the Library Founda-
tion by the Stoltz family of
Hood River. That vacant
sloping lot at Sixth and State
Street, separated from the li-
brary by trees and tall
shrubs, was merged with the
original park during con-
struction. Marion McNew, of
Mount Hood Gardens, creat-
ed the design for the new
Georgiana Smith Memorial
Gardens, named for the 19th
century benefactor who
started the first Hood River
library in her home, and
whose family donated the
land for the 1913 Carnegie
Library. (The building was
expanded in 2002 after a
community fund-raising
drive.)
The late Virginia Hosford,
long-time Foundation presi-
dent, was instrumental in
the development of the park,
as was June Knutson, the
previous library director,
now retired.
The preferred way people
traversed the grounds deter-
mined the layout of the cur-
rent paths. Installation was
completed by Hood River
County Public Works and
Mount Hood Gardens, along
Photos courtesy of Marion McNew, 2004-07
with copious in-kind work
and generous donations.
(Master Gardeners regular-
ly tend the xeriscape beds on
the State Street side in front
of the library.)
The gardens connects
State and Oak Streets, and
provides pedestrian access
to Sixth Street via a curving
pathway lined with benches
and commemorative bricks,
sold by the Foundation as a
gardens fundraiser.
T hree dif ferent patio
MAY 2015, looking west across Smith Gardens. Compare the
same view to the 2004 photo at lower left. Lower right, also in
2004, view west from Sixth Street; note the line of trees and
shrubs that had separated the property from the main park.
spaces create separate out-
door rooms, and all are
handicap-accessible. They
allow for sitting, eating, or
sta ging small musical
events. Benches along the
natural rock wall entice vis-
itors to sit and relax, and
offer stunning views of the
Columbia River Gorge. The
patio at the Sixth Street end
features a pergola and other
improvements donated by
the Hood River Rotary Club
in 2005.
In 2014, McNew oversaw
new plantings just up the
hillside from the Rotary
patio, after trees were re-
moved that had grown into
view-blockers at Stoltz Win-
ery, overlooking the west
end of the park.
An intriguing feature of
the gardens is “stone-ifer-
ous pine,” a 12-foot conical
sculpture built in 2006 by a
national group of stonema-
sons who were conferring in
Hood River at the time.
A new phase for the gar-
dens is in the planning with
the Hood River Library
Foundation, which funds
the maintenance and up-
grades. (The March 7 Feast
of Words this year raised
about $30,000 for the near-
See GARDENS, Page B2