By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Boggestow Garden Club (BGC) held an event titled “Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden: a tribute by Callie Cohen,” at the Sherborn Community Center. This spectacular performance was in celebration of Sherborn’s 350th Anniversary.
Cohen, who gave a first person portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt, took attendees back to the year 1949 in which Eleanor hosted a garden picnic at her home in Hyde Park. At this picnic, she recognized those who contributed to the Victory Garden effort both during and after World War II.
Cohen further detailed Eleanor’s found love for gardens back when she was a little girl. During her childhood, she lived in New York where she lost both of her parents at the age of ten years old. She found solace when visiting her Uncle, Teddy Roosevelt, out at his farm. On his land was a three acre veggie garden that Eleanor always loved to tend to and thus her passion for gardening blossomed from there.
As first lady, she visited many families during the war who did not have much to eat but grew and ate what they could from their gardens. With this, many relief gardens were set up to help those attain more food. This additionally inspired her and made her love for gardens grow even more.
With all of this in mind, Eleanor created a Victory Garden at her home to show the importance of feeding America and having important initiatives at the White House lawn. While this took great time to create, Eleanor was thrilled at what they built and what it stood for.
Throughout the program, Cohen continuously got audience members involved by talking with them as if they were Eleanor’s close friends. When it came time to present the Victory Garden awards at the picnic, Cohen handed them to attendees who represented those winners.
For more information about events like these happening in honor of Sherborn’s 350th Anniversary, please visit www.sherborn350.org.
