FRIENDS OF Spring 2003 Board of Trustees Friends of Florham Wroxton College — A Piece of the Past, Carol Bere Linda Carrington A Part of the Future Phyllis Conway At Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Wroxton Emma Joy Dana Thelma Dear College, vibrant educational lessons are infused Shannie Doremus with the spirit of a rich historical legacy. It’s all Dawn Dupak part of the unique Wroxton experience. Gary Jaworski The University has long placed a premium Barbara Keefauver value on fostering global education, and Wrox - Linda Meister ton has played a strong part in that mission for Audrey Parker Walter Savage nearly four decades. In 1963, the University Richard Simon purchased Wroxton Abbey from Trinity Col - lege of the University of Oxford. Following Students stroll from the entryway of Wroxton Abbey on the Honorary Trustees significant restoration and modernization, campus of Wroxton College. Susan Adams Wroxton College opened in 1965, making Fair - Kim Dougherty leigh Dickinson the first American university to — to the ease of transportation into the heart of operate its own campus in England. London and beyond: Wroxton is the gateway to Advisory Trustees a unique adventure. John H. Fritz Located in the village of Wroxton, the College Frances Mantone lies in the heart of England between Oxford Courses are taught by a highly qualified British Stacy Rooke and Stratford-upon-Avon, 81 miles northwest faculty who employ the British tutorial method. of the very center of London. Its prime location As part of the challenging academic program, University Liaisons makes the College ideally situated to provide students regularly tour nearby cultural and J. Michael Adams an academic program second to none. From its political centers while being exposed to emi - Ted Ambrosiano closeness to Stratford — the birthplace of nent visiting speakers ranging from actors from Colleen Coppla Shakespeare, home to the Royal Shakespeare the Royal Shakespeare Company to members Kenneth Greene Company and host to the Shakespeare Center of Parliament. continued on page 4 Gretchen Johnson ‘Florham Lily’ May Blossom Once Again The years-long effort of the Friends of “Florham” in 1899 by Arthur Herring - Florham to resurrect the “Florham ton, an internationally recognized Lily” may one day in the future gardening expert. Herrington intro - restore one of America’s most sto - duced it as a then-brand-new cross ried cultivars as a widely recognized between “hemerocallis aurantiaca major” floral image. The board’s prolonged and “hemerocallis Thunbergii.” It soon and wide-ranging research effort, led by became ancestor of numbers of the nation’s lily board member Richard Simon, has thus varieties, and, according to the description far failed to find surviving specimens of accompanying its registration, a spectacular the plant developed for Mrs. Twombly addition to any garden. and registered under the name of continued on page 2 President’s Letter These past months, with all of the snow that ick Law Olmsted Cutleaf Maple Grove” which has blanketed the area and specifically the Col - is just inside the Danforth Road entrance to the lege at Florham, the Friends have continued to campus. To quote James Griffo, former College move ahead. First of all, the grounds of at Florham provost, “This species is not indige - Florham have been spectacularly beautiful! nous to America but rather was imported (by Our projects this spring have Olmsted) from Japan. It is probably the most been, as reported elsewhere in outstanding ‘forest’ of Japanese cutleaf maples this newsletter, the resurfacing in the world — thanks to Frederick Law Olm - of the peripheral walk in the sted.” This grove is one of the most beautiful Italian Garden and the placing sights I have ever seen — especially in autumn of a new and better plaque hon - when all the trees are bursting with color. I oring the donors. believe it is something so unique, to say nothing of its beauty, that it is a part of our heritage that Another plaque was recently we must protect. installed to the right of the front of the Mansion recogniz - With a new residence hall being built across ing the friends and family of the street from this magnificent area, we were Kenneth W. Dougherty (hus - most worried that it would be destroyed by a band of our board member, parking lot, but, thanks to President Adams and Frederick Law Olmsted Kim), in whose memory the two holly trees the efforts of those in the University adminis - Cutleaf Maple Grove. flanking the entrance were given. Plans for a tration, the new parking lot comes right to the new ramp for the disabled are in the works, as grove’s edge. are thoughts about replacing the statues’ heads. Our board member, Richard Simon, has A very fine lecture, titled “When Florham Was designed and is working on a wall in three sec - New, The Florham Estate and Architecture and tions to protect it and set it apart from the park - the Gilded Age in Which It Stood,” was given ing lot. on March 16 by Madison’s own Janet Foster, But most importantly, come in the fall and noted author and architectural historian. actually see how fabulous the trees are them - Our big project, at least as far as I’m con - selves. cerned, is saving and designating the “Freder - Emma Joy Dana ‘Florham Lily’ continued from page 1 friends of the Friends apprised of the progress But the Friends’ determination to make certain of this special restoration effort. that the “Florham Lily” regains the attention it once commanded has led to negotiations to As attractive as the pin or tie tack may turn out recreate the flower as a decorative and com - to be if it is produced — and at the moment the memorative lapel pin and, possibly, a tie tack. if remains iffy — it will certainly not truly rival the splendid blossoms that brightened the If those negotiations proceed as the Friends Twomblys’ herbaceous borders and parterres. A hope they will, the Florham Lily’s original fully faithful and accurate reproduction of the “good yellow,” as its canary yellow hue was live “Florham Lily” would undoubtedly severe - identified in the registration data, may once ly stress any lapel or cravat to which it was more be delighting viewers’ eyes just as the pinned. model from which it would be copied did in its day in the appropriately named “gilded age.” The striking blossoms that Herrington devel - Future issues of this newsletter will keep oped were as large as six inches in diameter on erect spikes that rose three to four feet in height For Your Information with sepals and petals four inches long. Its The article “Shirley Carter Burden: An Apprecia - botanical grandeur was, in short, well suited to tion” in the winter 2003 issue of the Friends of the majestic scale of the estate it graced so Florham Newsletter was written by James H. Fras - becomingly in its heyday. 2 er. The Italian Garden On a beautiful Sunday in May 1998, the Friends of Florham, along with sev eral hun - dred honored guests, celebrated the completion of the first phase of the restoration of the Ital - ian Garden — the restoration of the Pergola at the far end of the garden and the parterre in the center. The formal dedication began with the Rev. Monsignor Vincent Puma opening the ceremony in both English and Italian and the Rev. Lauren Ackland of the Grace Episcopal Church, giving the benediction. Both are from Madison, N.J. The day was a tribute to the hundreds of work - men, mostly Italian, who were brought to this country by Hamilton Twombly to construct the estate’s buildings and the grounds and to plant The restored Italian Before the heavy snows of this winter, the Gardens at the College the gardens. The Italian Garden was designed peripheral walk surrounding the garden was at Florham. by Alfred Parsons and was subsequently completed. The snow, incidentally, helped to brought to near perfection by the family’s long - pack down and settle the very fine gravel time garden and internationally recognized gar - which was used. dening expert, Arthur Herrington. A new and better plaque with the names of the Our board member, Frances Mantone, was a donors, to whom we are forever grateful, also granddaughter of one of these workmen, has been placed at the end of the garden in the Anthony Pico. She was primarily responsible pergola. A few things are still needed to com - The Italian Gardens for bringing together, not only her own family (below) prior to their plete the restoration — replacing the heads and recent renovation. and friends, but the many other workers’ descendants whose families settled in the sur - rounding area, and who helped make this restoration possible. Mantone spoke feelingly about the “hard-working people, diligent and conscientious, who came to America for a bet - ter life — with very little except their deep commitment to their families and their love of the earth.” We were thrilled to have with us as our special guests the sister and other relatives of Dr. and Mrs. Peter Sammartino, the founders of Fair - leigh Dickinson University; a number of alum - Post-restoration Italian ni, former faculty members and friends, as well the cleaning of the two statues of classical fig - Gardens (above). as many third-generation descendants of the ures; fixing the surrounding walls, where there original workers who helped create Florham. are several missing pieces; and replacing a Of particular joy to us was the fact that we ramp for the disabled with a more architec - were able to use some of the original plantings turally appropriate structure. of peonies, columbine and irises in our recreat - In conclusion, it has been five years since that ed parterre.