As a news guy, on occasion, I’m asked to speak to civic organizations, clubs, and other groups. Sometimes, the topic is layed out for me; other times, I’m told to just wing it. It can be a bit nerve wracking, but I’ve found this kind of social free-fall is often remarkably productive.
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to address the women of the Fairgreen Garden Club. On the surface, looking at my lawn, that’s like inviting an alien from a waterless planet to talk to hydroponics researchers on the Big Island of Hawaii. Anyway, the die was cast. So, speak I did.
What to talk to a garden club about? That was the question.
Casting about for a topic even remotely “green and verdant,” I told about a situation I stumbled upon as a reporter back in the 1990s. One Monday morning, a Department of Transportation road crew up in Tallahassee found itself hobbled. Vandals had done a number on one of their high-tech wood chopping devices.
The previous Friday afternoon, the crew had been called out to clear shrubbery from the side of Highway 90 (before the interstate, the major east-west corridor leading into our state’s capital). After an hour or two, the crew shut-down for the weekend.
Looking down a half-mile of cleared highway shoulder, I caught my breath.
The crew had been rapidly making wood pulp out of one of Florida’s truest of beauties: a stretch of road from Monticello to Tallahassee called Mahan Drive.
Back in the late 1920s, Monticello nurseryman Fred A. Mahan was the second largest pecan and ornamental shrubbery grower in the southeastern United States. When the depression first hit, Mr. Mahan donated thousands of plants to the county unemployment relief commission. The ornamentals would be used for beatification of highways, churchyards, and cemeteries.
By 1935, the deepest part of the Great Depression, the government resurfaced Highway 90. Once again, Fred Mahan donated plants for this project — pyracantha, arbor vitae, flowering crape myrtle, and palms. Mr. Mahan donated between 35,000 and 40,000 plants along the 25 miles between Monticello and the capital. About 45 laborers were put to work at 30 cents per hour for an average of $39 per month. The trees were set out over a period of eight years, bringing blessed relief to dozens of Florida families – and a beautiful gift which to this day blossoms every spring.
These were the road-side shrubs being pulverized! One news story and a firestorm of indignation later, the work stopped. We retained a bit of our history.
This was something the women of Fairgreen Green Garden Club could relate to. I don’t care who you are; you drive down that stretch of road leading into Tallahassee in the springtime, you’ll understand just what a good gardener can do to make a difference. Fred Mahan made Florida a better place. Just like our garden clubs are doing here in NSB.
As far as I was concerned, that was the end of my presentation. What do I know?
Hands went up. “Mr. Burns, what about our own Gateway Approach, Highway 44? What’s to be done with it?”
What indeed? Ideas flew.
The women of the Fairgreen Garden Club said they’ll contact the New Smyrna Beach Garden Club and others concerned and formulate a plan, get the ball rolling. Eighty years ago, Fred Mahan made a huge difference in Tallahassee, one you can still enjoy.
Hopefully, we’ll have something we’ll be proud of a century from now. A charming gateway, illustrating how during our time of crisis, we gave back a thing of beauty.