Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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A trip to Cushings Island in Casco Bay, Maine, revealed scenic vistas, elegant architecture, and historic sites.
I am a member of Oceanside Conservation Trust, a land trust based in Portland, Maine, dedicated to preserving land on the islands in Casco Bay. Every August, Oceanside hosts its annual meeting on one of the islands on which it holds conservation easements. This year members visited Cushings Island, a privately owned island that is part of the City of Portland. This was a rare opportunity to tour this normally “gated” (as I overheard one resident call it) island with its unique history and architecture.
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This ‘triangular’ look is very common in John Calvin Stevens Shingle Style architecture.
Cushings Island was purchased in the 1750s by Ezekiel Cushing. In the 1880s, his descendant Francis Cushing hired the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to develop the island as a planned summer colony in conjunction with John Calvin Stevens. Stevens, an architect based in Portland, Maine, became famous for his innovative Shingle Style architecture. He designed over 1,000 buildings in the state during his long career. Many of the 45 homes on Cushings Island were created by Stevens in the late 19th century, and they are well preserved today:
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Cushings Island is also a unique historical site as it was fortified during the Spanish-American War in 1898 and then occupied again during World War II when part of the Atlantic Fleet was based in Casco Bay. We were able to see the fortifications during our tour:
Gun emplacements from the Spanish-American War in 1898 are overgrown with vegetation.
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The fortifications on Cushings Island were augmented during World War II.
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World War II observation tower.
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Officers’ quarters from WWII are now summer homes.
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Cushings Island is also very beautiful in a quintessential Maine way:
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It was a privilege to visit this part of our cultural heritage, and I am glad I can share it with you.
Carolyn
P.S. I am excited to report that the stat counter for Carolyn’s Shade Gardens blog has now recorded over 1,000,000 views. Thank you to all my readers all over the world!
Nursery Happenings: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is closed for the summer and will reopen in September. You can sign up to receive notification emails by sending your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net.
Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.
Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
