The Nicholson Church Lane Community Garden was founded in 1978 under the leadership of Chris and Helen Nicholson. They had a vision for 234-48 East Church Lane, where rowhomes had been demolished to make space for a highway that was never built, which displaced families and left an overgrown abandoned lot. Chris and Helen joined with other Germantown neighbors through the Wister Neighborhood Council to transform the empty lot into a shared space for growing vegetables, flowers, and community. Over time, the garden flourished, and in 1991, NGT was able to acquire and preserve this .32-acre garden which has served and nourished East Germantown for almost 50 years.
For decades, Germantown gardeners have worked as volunteers to maintain the space and cultivate crops to feed their families and their neighbors. The Garden has a long tradition of growing fruits and vegetables for donation, including through the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s City Harvest Program. In this way, Nicholson Church Lane gardeners combat food insecurity in a low-to-moderate-income neighborhood where affordable fresh food has not historically been readily available. In addition, mature trees provide shady respite, contribute to neighborhood climate resilience, and fruit trees hang over the garden fence for the public to pick and enjoy.
Since the passing of Helen and Chris Nicholson, the Garden has been undergoing a transition that has highlighted the need for a major renovation and has built garden leadership capacity to support a major project. The physical condition of the garden has declined over the years, resulting in sloped and uneven terrain that is difficult to navigate and maintain, especially for elders and gardeners with mobility challenges. Shared social areas on the edges of the garden have become overgrown and the conditions of the garden beds and pathways have degraded as the garden maintenance challenges grew. These issues made it difficult for gardeners to maintain their plots, and when Covid hit the combined challenges caused garden membership to dwindle.
However, today long-time gardeners, along with the next generation of community leaders like Garden President Christina Smith, have begun to galvanize around an exciting vision for the garden’s next chapter. Last year, the garden board began active recruitment of new members, and today most of the garden beds are being tended. New trees have been planted and gardeners have started new initiatives, such as engaging with a Boy Scout troop to design and build a memorial bench commemorating the Nicholsons’ important contribution to the garden. These garden leaders have identified the physical accessibility of the garden as the major barrier to realizing their vision of a revitalized garden that continues to serve the wider Germantown community. To remove those barriers NGT plans to address the gardener’s safety concerns and desire for accessibility improvements by facilitating a major renovation at the garden.
This fall, NGT engaged Apiary Studio, a landscape architecture firm, to collaborate with the gardeners to develop an updated garden design that will reestablish the garden as a welcoming and beautiful space that:
- Enables gardeners of all mobilities to safely navigate and maintain the garden, including wheelchair accessibility.
- Offers areas to host community gatherings and events as well as art installations.
- Provides places for quiet contemplation and for young children to play while their parents are busy gardening.
- Grows shared herb and ornamental plant beds with natives and wildlife-benefiting selections.
With new leadership and energy emerging among the gardeners, they look forward to walking through the garden next season in its new glory!
NGT’s goal is to go into construction by late winter and to complete renovations early in the 2025 growing season, but we must first secure all the necessary funding.
Join us on GivingTuesday, December 3, a day that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity. Together, we can reach this important goal to raise $20,000 to revitalize the Nicholson Church Lane Community Garden!
Help us spread the word by sharing our GivingTuesday campaign with your family, friends, and other networks. Busy that day? You can also make a gift now to be counted on GivingTuesday. Thank you for giving Nicholson Church Lane Community Garden a bright future!
“Part of the experience at the garden for me was to step through the gate into another world of plants, flowers, insects, worms, birds, snakes, and countless wonders which inhabit a community garden. And there would be another neighbor, enjoying the beauty alongside of me and we can share a bond even with few words.”
Kathy Paulmier, daughter of Chris and Helen Nicholson
Resolve Philly also spoke with the Nicholson Church Lane gardeners to help spread the word about the restoration project. You can read their coverage here.