The Kelley House garden in Edgartown resumes a portion of its former beauty as it is cleared of the wreckage of the hurricane, and the setting has changed through the addition of two annex buildings increasing the capacity of the ancient hotel.

 

The garden was badly damaged by the sea which swept across it, filling the place with wreckage and killing trees, shrubs and flowering plants. Of the former, perhaps one only can be saved, but the rose hedge, featuring many varieties of blooms arranged on a high fence, has bloomed this month, and although many of the bushes suffered damage, they do not seem to have suffered permanent injury.

 

R. L. Colter mourns the loss of his row of popular trees which were destroyed, but others will replace them shortly. With other shrubs, such as bridal wreath, of which several large ones were killed, more time must elapse before they attain anything like the size of those destroyed.

 

 

The buildings which have been added to the establishment may likewise be properly termed as salvage from the great storm. Nearest the waterfront is a small two-story building, which was once a boathouse. Battered and wrecked by the hurricane, it has been repaired and remodeled. The other is a former pavilion, likewise badly shattered, but which is now a dignified, two-story house, colonial in design, and pleasing in appearance. White exteriors with green shutters on the windows will make these two buildings correspond with the older part of the hotel.

 

Together the buildings contain twelve large rooms, with private baths. The decorative scheme is calculated to add attraction with pale tinted walls of various colors, and gray painted floors of the ancient style. Because of wartime restrictions, lack of help and other circumstances, it has been a long struggle to repair the hurricane damage and make these alterations in time for the summer season.