The once-wilted grounds of Ghent Square are starting to bloom again.
The Fred Huette Center, the primary feature of the square, was founded in 1980 — in a building dating to the 19th century — to honor the legacy of its namesake. Frederic Heutte was superintendent of Norfolk‘s Department of Parks and Forestry from 1936 to 1965 and a celebrated horticulturalist. He founded what became the Norfolk Botanical Garden and planted the many of the seeds that keep the city green today.
The Huette Center was very active in the 80s and 90s, with classes and lectures on horticulture, herb sales and more. But it fell into disrepair over the past 15 years as the group of committed gardeners that had maintained it began to drift away, according to Scott and Monica Shephard, who moved to Ghent Square about 23 years ago. They’re looking to restore this community hub and, with enough elbow grease, put it on a path to long-term sustainability.
“This used to be just an absolutely incredible gem in our neighborhood but nobody knew about it,” Monica said.
The Shephards, both 67 — Monica a civil engineer who retired in 2019 and Scott a radar intercept officer with the Navy who retired in 2020 — slowly got involved with the Huette Center as they got more time on their hands, especially once the COVID-19 lockdowns began. Monica comes from generations of farmers and gardeners and is now certified as a master gardener, while Scott has picked up his skills along the way.
Before the Shephards knew it, they were running the show. Monica is now the president of the Friends of Fred Huette Foundation and director of the Center, while Scott is on the board of directors and serves as the secretary and treasurer of the foundation.
“I thought it was just weeding that we were going to do,” Scott said.
They see it as an institution that can catalyze a change in the community toward better resiliency as Hampton Roads faces environmental challenges in the coming decades. The mission includes increased tree cover and instruction on growing food in home gardens. Gardening also provides an activity that can support mental and physical health.
“Having people aware of what they can do, how plants and environmental choices that they can make will improve not only their immediate environment but the environment for all of us and make it more resilient,” Monica said. “So I think at its most fundamental level this is about creating an environment for all of us and our children that is not just healthy but is getting healthier — is on a positive track— and to have that embedded in our culture.”
A major part of improving the local environment is the support of native plants, which Monica explained are crucial to the health of pollinators and the local food chain as a whole.
Since last spring — with the help of a handful of volunteers and the Norfolk Master Gardeners — the Shephards have been working 5 to 6 hours a day, walking from their home about a block away to prune and beautify the area. Some of the biggest challenges have been trimming back the drastically overgrown hedges and clearing out invasive species, which is an ongoing struggle.
The Shephards have also gotten help from an unexpected volunteer: a tabby cat named Lucy who lives in the neighborhood and patrols the gardens for pests. She’s also been known to saunter behind passersby hoping for a few pats on the head.
“When people are aware that someone is taking care of a space … there’s a change in the attitude,” Monica said. “Instead of this just being a city park that folks come to and not really caring about it, people are coming and they’re folks here who are saying ‘hello’ and there’s a sense of community around it.”
“There were a lot of things about COVID that were horrible,” she added, “a lot of people lost members of their family — in this particular case COVID helped us create a family of people who wanted to become more involved and wanted to work together to keep these gardens in good shape.”
All of the food produced at the Edward M. Gross Heirloom Garden at the Huette Center, maintained by the Master Gardeners who offer courses on advanced gardening techniques, goes toward the Food Bank. Last year, the garden contributed 1,600 pounds of food to those in need, according to Monica.
The Center was originally built in 1887 and served as the Norfolk-Portsmouth Ferry Terminal — in what is now the Waterside District — until the early 1950s. The building was dismantled in 1952 and placed in storage, then reassembled in Ghent Square in 1969. Despite the Shephards’ many internal renovations, the building is in need of major work. Norfolk’s latest proposed budget includes $500,000 for maintenance, including heating and air conditioning and possibly repairs to the roof, according to city spokesperson Chris Jones.
Attempts to reach City Council members Andria McClellan and Courtney Doyle by phone and email for comment on the proposed budget this week were unsuccessful. The council will vote on the budget June 13.
The Center’s foyer, main room downstairs, and meeting room upstairs have been renovated, and the Shephards even installed a catering kitchen for larger events — paying for it out of their own pocket.
One end of the Center, with natural light flooding in and ricocheting off a glittering chandelier, has a small library made up of books that accumulated in the building and in Huette’s collection over the years. The volumes have been curated by a master gardener to include ones that would be most helpful to a home gardener in a climate like that of Hampton Roads, Monica said.
The building has hosted weddings and other private or business gatherings. It’s available by appointment, or if you happen to stop by while the Shephards are working. They don’t charge anyone to use the space if it’s for something related to horticulture, according to Monica.
The Shephards can’t maintain their current workload forever. They hope to build the Center up to a good enough condition over the next few years that someone else will feel comfortable taking over the heavy lifting.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com
