Conservancy group formed for Camden Amphitheatre

CAMDEN – The walkways are paved, the plants are in the ground and the grass is seeded.

The rehabilitation of two of Camden’s historic landscapes – the Camden Amphitheatre and Harbor Park, both adjacent to Camden Public Library – is in the home stretch.

A rededication ceremony is planned for Aug. 15.

The town borrowed $350,000, which was matched with $350,000 from private sources, to pay for the work. Now, the newly formed Conservancy for Camden Harbor Park and Amphitheatre is ready to take over and ensure that the grounds do not deteriorate.

The conservancy was created by the library trustees. It announced this week it has hired Dave Jackson of Rockport as its director. Jackson, 73, said Thursday his first goal is to help raise $1.15 million for an endowment, which would pay for maintenance of the landscapes.

Discussions of the future of the amphitheater and park created controversy in town in 1998, following the underground addition to the library. The addition was largely paid for by MBNA and its then-chief executive officer, Charles Cawley.

Cawley and other library boosters set their sights on restoring the grounds to their former glory, but many in town objected to rumors that the hill at Harbor Park would be shaved off, and that most of the trees in the amphitheater would be cut down.

Residents voted to stop the planned work, and a commission was formed to study the grounds and recommend an approach to restoring them that would be embraced by the community. That plan is being executed.

The amphitheater was designed by noted landscape architect Fletcher Steele, and Harbor Park by the famed Olmsted Brothers, the firm that built New York’s Central Park, among others.

Harbor Park now features eight mahogany benches – replicated from the original benches designed by the Olmsted firm – at the top and bottom of the hill. Donations are being sought to sponsor the benches, Jackson said; $3,000 will pay for 10 years of maintenance, and $4,000 will pay for 20 years. A plaque listing the benefactor will be affixed to the bench.

Jackson said his role will be to handle public relations for the parks, oversee maintenance and stewardship, schedule events such as weddings, and manage fund-raising.

“I’m the eyes and ears and voice, though not necessarily the brains, of the conservancy,” he said.

Jackson has an interest in and experience with planned landscapes.

He helped found the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, which has grown to become the third-largest event of its kind in the United States. He also launched the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show in Providence.

“It’s a lot like doing this,” he said of the flower shows, gesturing to Harbor Park. In putting together a flower show, “they build stonewalls, waterfalls.”

Some of his shows included replicas of historic gardens, such as the one at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, Va.

The conservancy board comprises Richard Anderson, president; Richard Aroneau, Anne Edmonds, Dyke Messler, Roger Moody, Caroline Morong, Mort Strom and Lucinda Ziesing.

Jackson’s contract with the conservancy runs through December 2005.