A Vineyard wild flower sanctuary, where native plants, flowers and shrubs will be planted and protected, under conditions which will allow the general public to see and enjoy them, is in the process of becoming a reality at Christiantown. Mrs. Wilfrid O. White of Vineyard Haven, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club, has been given permission, and some financial aid, by the county board, with which to pit her plan into operation on the county-owned land adjacent to the Indian burying ground on this historic spot, and the initial survey has been made by Will C. Curtis, one of the foremost landscape architects of the country, who is to submit a working plan of operation.

Mr. Curtis has said that this spot lends itself to such a project, and that with very little preparation it may be made suitable for the planting and growing of all Vineyard flora. His plan is expected to include a wood trail, winding among the oaks, and bordered by beds and stands of wild growth, planted and arranged naturally as to setting and disposition.

The hundreds of specimens which are native to the Vineyard include certain varieties not elsewhere known, and the whole is destined to  present something distinct and unusual in the way of a park. Mrs. White has been working on this plan for some time and hopes to have a start made in time for the tercentenary observance.

“A Living Museum”

It is Mrs. White’s belief that the sanctuary will stimulate public interest in the protection of wild plants, and will proved for summer visitors, “a living museum.” The planting of this particular area will have a poetic justice about it, since the wild things to be established there will be the very same flowers and plants which played such an important part in the lives of the Indian in bygone days.

The plan for progressive planting, worked out by Mr. Curtis, will be maintained at the expense of the county, with Mrs. White overseeing the initial work. The garden club plans to hold a picnic there in June to celebrate the beginning of the sanctuary, and to have Mr. Curtis present to exhibit the plan of the trail and how it may be developed.