84B Old Main Street
Margaret Quinn Orloske & the Victim's of September 11th
Cook's Garden Dedication Historic Deerfield June 11, 2006 Life is connected. In all of its manifestations, it is connected across space and time. This place, Historic Deerfield, is a celebration of those connections. It connects us with our history, it connects us with our ancestors, and it connects us with ourselves and each other by connecting us with who we were and where we came from. It was those connections that so fascinated Margaret, my wife, Stephen’s Mother, Sylvia’s and Ed’s Daughter, and friend and family member of many here today. She so loved our 17th and 18th Century American History. She studied it in college and she lived it at home in our recreated 18th century world in Settlement Hill. She brought us often to Historic Deerfield so we could learn more and deepen our connection with our past. It is so fitting that we are here today to officially open the Cook's Garden and dedicate it to Margaret’s memory and the memory of the souls of the nearly 3000 people that were killed with her on September 11, 2001. This Garden and supporting of the Open Hearth Cooking Program in Cook’s Tavern, are fitting memorials to her. Fitting not only because gardening, and hearth cooking, were among Margaret’s passions, but also because it will provide something that Margaret provided to everyone around her. The Garden will connect us.• It will connect visitors with those that lived before us, as it teaches them how gardens were part of their lives as they are with so many of us today. • It will connect visitors to how our ancestors used the various plants to enhance their foods, dye their clothes and treated their illnesses. <BR><BR> • It will connect visitors with the land, a connection that was the foundation of this historic place and in a global sense is the foundation of all life on our planet.It will connect visitors with the rhythms of the seasons and the renewal of life from year to year, from decade to decade, from century to century as they come back to visit Historic Deerfield to see how the garden is doing. There is an old Swedish Proverb I think is appropriate, not only because Margaret was half Swedish but because it speaks to a key practice Margaret used in her gardening and her life. “Go often to the home of a friend; For weeds soon choke up the unused path. Shared joy is a doubled joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” <BR><BR> My hope is that people will come home to this garden, often and regularly in the years to come. Come home to a place that connects them with their history and the people that were part of it. Come home to a place that connects them with the life-giving and renewing earth on which we all depend. Come home to a place that connects them with the rhythms of life were they can learn about who we are by learning where they came from. Come home to a place were they can connect with those who share common interests, in our roots, in our history, in our connections with each other. And I hope that when they are here, visiting this garden, they might notice the dedication plaque, and also remember the people who were killed that bright September morning, who are all now part of our collective histories. I hope that they might remember that those 3000 lives made such a difference in the lives of so many around them, as our ancestors did here over 300 years ago. I hope they get a sense of the connections that bind us all, as we create our future on the foundations they have built for us. On behalf of my family and the many friends of Margaret, I want to that thank all of the people from Historic Deerfield for making this project possible. Philip Zea, Ann Lanning, Bill Flynt and Pat Ford-Yurkanus for their leadership and support. Don Friery, Phil’s predecessor, for suggesting the idea of establishing the Fund. I especially want to thank the many volunteers that have put in countless hours of work to plan, build and plant the garden and present this event today. In particular I want to thank David Dye and John Howell for their contributions in constructing the Garden; and Barbara Hoadley and the Open Hearth Cooks for not only preparing the refreshments we enjoy this afternoon, but also for creating the original Cook’s Garden which inspirited our new Garden. And finally I want to thank my sister Anita McGraw whose research for and design of the 18th century garden she and her husband Bob installed at the Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park in Tazewell Virginia, provided the foundation on which the design of the Cook's Garden was based. I know Margaret would be pleased that the contributions of her friends and family and the work of those here at Historic Deerfield will enable her to be remembered in this place and in this way, and continue to contribute to others the gift she gave to others all of her life. Making connections. Thank you all for coming today. Margaret would have been pleased.
The Cook’s Garden is a recreation of an 18th century kitchen garden which is used as part of Historic Deerfield’s educational programs in open hearth cooking and gardening. Located behind Hall Tavern, the Garden was dedicated on June 11, 2006 and is supported by the Margaret Quinn Orloske Fund; an endowment at Historic Deerfield providing ongoing support for Historic Deerfield’s Open Hearth Cooking Program and the Cook's Garden upkeep.