Sargent Downing / Logo

The City of Beacon Recreation Departmentis proud to present a new recreation program for the community in the newly opened NYS Park formally known as The University Settlement Camp. This program focuses on the areas of gardening, horticulture and civic pride. Our emphasis will be an education program with historical importance for our children. While serving the community at large, this program will also provide the City of Beacon with trees for its parks and Main Street. 

The Hudson Valley has a rich history in the early development of American landscape gardening and design. Both Beacon and Newburgh were homes of two distinguished horticulturists who paved the way for the art form that helped design some of the most beautiful landscapes in America. Henry Winthrop Sargent and Andrew Jackson Downing were great friends, lived across the Hudson from one another, and designed many landscapes in our community.

The goals of this program are to offer a different type of recreation for the City of Beacon and the surrounding communities. It will help educate children in the areas of horticulture, gardening and sustainability. Volunteers of all ages will be invited to participate in educating and maintaining the grounds which will include seed starting, planting, harvesting food, composting, and propagating amongst other activities. The group will begin using, and will gradually improve upon, the existing garden space at the university settlement camp. The Sargent – Downing Gardens and Nursery project will include the following:

    * Tree Nursery

    * Organic perennial and shrub gardens

    * Vegetable gardens

    * Herbal gardens

    * Seminars on propagation

    * Beehive

    * Butterfly gardens

I learned that the Magnolia acuminata (Cucumber Magnolia), now listed as endangered in the U.S. and Canada, was the favorite tree of Andrew Jackson Downing—a name I had only heard briefly mentioned during a master gardener’s class. I started to research Downing and learned that he is considered one of the most influential characters in the American history of horticulture.