Swenson House Benefits from Eagle Projects

It's well known that being an Eagle Scout yields benefits for the rest of a young man's life... it is a proven resume item. It shows you have persevered and accomplished something ambitious, involving planning and organization skills. The Swenson House has benefited and continues to do so from some great Eagle Scout projects.

Thursday June 11 Matt McLeod will be laying the groundwork for his project, which is to create a allee, a French word that means a promenade, a walkway that is lined with trees or shrubs. This is going to run from the south end of the planned Grape Arbor to the sidewalk near North 17th Street. It will have a surface of decomposed granite and will be lined with white crepe myrtles. It's all part of the Preservation League's plan to further develop the south lawn of the Swenson House as an extended venue for events that can be held there at the Swenson House.

Two years ago Hudson Beard, another Scout who is now an Eagle, restored the original fish pond on the south lawn. The pond, about 20 inches deep, had been dried up for years. Bill Minter, executive director of the APL, estimated that it had not held water successfully since the 1940s, because the tin liner developed rust and cracks. Hudson planned and designed the project to include donated plants, a new pond liner and landscaping around the pond. Recently landscape lighting was added.

Shawn Butler is the third Scout to bring his energy and Eagle project helpers to improve the Swenson House grounds. Shawn plans to construct a pergola, an arbor-type wooden structure, near the southeast corner of the lot at North 17th and Swenson, and install some natural limestone benches near the pergola and fountain that are made out of rock gathered at the famous Swenson Ranches near Stamford.

Join us in congratulating these young men and thanking them for enhancing the historic Swenson House and contributing to its preservation.