Members of Leadership Orange help landscape Pitcher Park, which will be featured Sunday on 'California's Gold.'
By COURTNEY BACALSO
Staff writer - OC Register
Tom Waters moved to Orange so he could grow rare fruit trees.
But he didn't learn about Pitcher Park, a passive park which features a garden similar to that of his own, until September when he joined Leadership Orange.
Waters and the 19 other members in the get-to-know-Orange class took on the half-acre park hidden by trees on the corner of Almond Street and Cambridge Avenue as its special project.
Friday, the group planted new flowers in the three flowerbeds in the park – marking the end of the special project.
They also replaced grape trellises, planted 15 donated trees and refurbished the Pitcher Family Museum.
Waters was also responsible for Huell Howser visiting the park and the city. The city and the park will be featured at 8 p.m. Sunday on "California's Gold."
"When I heard about this park, I just thought 'wow, this guy is just like me with all the weird fruit trees,'" Waters said laughing. "I just fell in love with it."
The property belonged to Henry and Grace Pitcher who had a son, Laurence. Laurence married Alice Clark in 1932. The property served as an urban farm where Laurence raised bees in the backyard as a hobby.
In 1992, Alice Pitcher, then a widow with no children, donated the property to the city. But with two conditions: it must remain as a passive park with the same trees the family planted years ago and the house must go.
The park features a variety of fruit trees, benches and tables to play chess on, the "honey house" with Laurence's honey processor, and a remake of the barn house.
Inside the barn are the Pitcher Family Museum and the City of Orange Fire Museum.
"This park does give a sense of how Orange used to be, said Councilwoman Tita Smith. "It's so wonderful, especially in the spring when the blossoms are so fragrant."
By COURTNEY BACALSO
Staff writer - OC Register
Tom Waters moved to Orange so he could grow rare fruit trees.
But he didn't learn about Pitcher Park, a passive park which features a garden similar to that of his own, until September when he joined Leadership Orange.
Waters and the 19 other members in the get-to-know-Orange class took on the half-acre park hidden by trees on the corner of Almond Street and Cambridge Avenue as its special project.
Friday, the group planted new flowers in the three flowerbeds in the park – marking the end of the special project.
They also replaced grape trellises, planted 15 donated trees and refurbished the Pitcher Family Museum.
Waters was also responsible for Huell Howser visiting the park and the city. The city and the park will be featured at 8 p.m. Sunday on "California's Gold."
"When I heard about this park, I just thought 'wow, this guy is just like me with all the weird fruit trees,'" Waters said laughing. "I just fell in love with it."
The property belonged to Henry and Grace Pitcher who had a son, Laurence. Laurence married Alice Clark in 1932. The property served as an urban farm where Laurence raised bees in the backyard as a hobby.
In 1992, Alice Pitcher, then a widow with no children, donated the property to the city. But with two conditions: it must remain as a passive park with the same trees the family planted years ago and the house must go.
The park features a variety of fruit trees, benches and tables to play chess on, the "honey house" with Laurence's honey processor, and a remake of the barn house.
Inside the barn are the Pitcher Family Museum and the City of Orange Fire Museum.
"This park does give a sense of how Orange used to be, said Councilwoman Tita Smith. "It's so wonderful, especially in the spring when the blossoms are so fragrant."
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