A dedication ceremony of the new pergola was held at a Yaddo garden
reception on Sunday, June 28, for those who have contributed to the
Pergola Restoration Fund.
At the reception, a bronze plaque was presented recognizing significant financial contributions as well as the volunteer activities involved in the pergola restoration. Under the direction of the Yaddo Gardens Association President Jane Wait (YGA), the completion of the final work on the pergola, the dominant architectural feature in the garden was finalized with a ribbon cutting by Wait and her son, Charles.
The pergola restoration was a major project, costing more than $400,000, and many people contributed to the campaign in both large and small ways, including those who attended the four Yaddo Mansion open houses held over a period of several years to raise money for the restoration work. Fundraising included garden parties, a cookbook sale, a quilt show and on four occasions, Yaddo Mansion tours.
The gardens comprise about 10 acres of the 400-acre Yaddo estate and are the only part of the property open to the public.
Wait was the impetus for founding the YGA and she had a specially focused interest in raising money for renovations to the garden entrance gate and a water system for the rock garden, as well as recruiting community support for providing new bases for several of the garden statues.
In 1991, after a year of 'slow perking', Jane went to her friends and asked, 'How would you like to help restore Yaddo Gardens?' As the Trasks had a vision, Wait had a vision for resurrecting the gardens. The founding members of the YGA helped tidy the rose garden and the YGA planted 350 new rose bushes in May, 1992. The rest is history.
Construction on the new pergola began in the spring of 2008. Workers from Western Building Restoration of Albany completed the installation of the 180 foot pergola with its 38 terra cotta Ionic columns. Boston Valley Terra Cotta in Orchard Park crafted the new column pieces which are coated with a porcelain glaze and numbered so they could be fitted together on-site. It was a slow process because the eight handmade terra cotta pieces making up each column had to be exactly stacked on top of each other before being cemented in place. The pergola wooden roof has been restored also. Construction work on the pergola was completed in the fall of 2008. Saratoga Springs based Bonacio Landscaping recently completed the pergola renovation by tidying up the pergola rose bushes, leveling the ground and adding pebbles to the walkway through the pergola.
The Yaddo Garden was a gift from Spencer Trask in 1899 to honor his wife, Katrina Trask. The garden is made up of two contrasting areas: the formal Rose Garden based on classical Italian design, and the "free, poetic, idyllic" Rock Garden. The two areas are separated by a 180 foot Rose embowered pergola, the architectural focal point of the garden. It was the Trasks' vision that helped create their own design which included gardens containing ponds with flowing fountains, marble statues representing the four seasons, "Christalan", a statue representing youth triumphing over death as well as a sundial on the balcony overlooking the three terraces. The portico leading from the Trask mansion to the garden is inscribed with the following: "Spencer Trask laid out this rose garden in honor of his wife Katrina, author, poet, and woman. 'Go happy rose and enterwove with other flowers; bind my love'. In 1901 the balcony sundial was inscribed with a message from friend/poet Henry Van Dyke. It reads: "Hours fly, Flowers die, new days, new ways pass by, Love stays. Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."
During the 1970s the gardens were terribly vandalized. Several statues were destroyed and the sundial was stolen. In June, 1990 Wait's son, Charles, gave a new sundial made for Yaddo in memory of his father, Newman E. (Pete) Wait, to replace the stolen one. Charles had his three children - Sascha, Christopher and Charlie - plant several rosebushes in the garden at the sundial dedication ceremony. Jane Wait recalls that at the dedication ceremony she realized there were no other roses blooming in the gardens.
It was Katrina Trask's wish that the garden be "a garden enclosed, a garden of delight, and a garden of romance". The Yaddo Gardens are a popular venue for summer weddings.
The YGA will continue to accept and direct funds for the maintenance of the gardens, which includes the upkeep of the pergola, from gifts and donations received. For more information, contact (518) 584-0746 or www.yaddo.org.
The gardens are open free to the public daily year-round. The Yaddo Gardens attract about 40,000 visitors annually, and each summer several couples choose the gardens as the site for their wedding. The YGA offers guided tours at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (and Tuesdays during the Saratoga Race Course season) from late June through Labor Day for $5 per person.
The pergola restoration was a major project, costing more than $400,000, and many people contributed to the campaign in both large and small ways, including those who attended the four Yaddo Mansion open houses held over a period of several years to raise money for the restoration work. Fundraising included garden parties, a cookbook sale, a quilt show and on four occasions, Yaddo Mansion tours.
The gardens comprise about 10 acres of the 400-acre Yaddo estate and are the only part of the property open to the public.
Wait was the impetus for founding the YGA and she had a specially focused interest in raising money for renovations to the garden entrance gate and a water system for the rock garden, as well as recruiting community support for providing new bases for several of the garden statues.
In 1991, after a year of 'slow perking', Jane went to her friends and asked, 'How would you like to help restore Yaddo Gardens?' As the Trasks had a vision, Wait had a vision for resurrecting the gardens. The founding members of the YGA helped tidy the rose garden and the YGA planted 350 new rose bushes in May, 1992. The rest is history.
Construction on the new pergola began in the spring of 2008. Workers from Western Building Restoration of Albany completed the installation of the 180 foot pergola with its 38 terra cotta Ionic columns. Boston Valley Terra Cotta in Orchard Park crafted the new column pieces which are coated with a porcelain glaze and numbered so they could be fitted together on-site. It was a slow process because the eight handmade terra cotta pieces making up each column had to be exactly stacked on top of each other before being cemented in place. The pergola wooden roof has been restored also. Construction work on the pergola was completed in the fall of 2008. Saratoga Springs based Bonacio Landscaping recently completed the pergola renovation by tidying up the pergola rose bushes, leveling the ground and adding pebbles to the walkway through the pergola.
The Yaddo Garden was a gift from Spencer Trask in 1899 to honor his wife, Katrina Trask. The garden is made up of two contrasting areas: the formal Rose Garden based on classical Italian design, and the "free, poetic, idyllic" Rock Garden. The two areas are separated by a 180 foot Rose embowered pergola, the architectural focal point of the garden. It was the Trasks' vision that helped create their own design which included gardens containing ponds with flowing fountains, marble statues representing the four seasons, "Christalan", a statue representing youth triumphing over death as well as a sundial on the balcony overlooking the three terraces. The portico leading from the Trask mansion to the garden is inscribed with the following: "Spencer Trask laid out this rose garden in honor of his wife Katrina, author, poet, and woman. 'Go happy rose and enterwove with other flowers; bind my love'. In 1901 the balcony sundial was inscribed with a message from friend/poet Henry Van Dyke. It reads: "Hours fly, Flowers die, new days, new ways pass by, Love stays. Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."
During the 1970s the gardens were terribly vandalized. Several statues were destroyed and the sundial was stolen. In June, 1990 Wait's son, Charles, gave a new sundial made for Yaddo in memory of his father, Newman E. (Pete) Wait, to replace the stolen one. Charles had his three children - Sascha, Christopher and Charlie - plant several rosebushes in the garden at the sundial dedication ceremony. Jane Wait recalls that at the dedication ceremony she realized there were no other roses blooming in the gardens.
It was Katrina Trask's wish that the garden be "a garden enclosed, a garden of delight, and a garden of romance". The Yaddo Gardens are a popular venue for summer weddings.
The YGA will continue to accept and direct funds for the maintenance of the gardens, which includes the upkeep of the pergola, from gifts and donations received. For more information, contact (518) 584-0746 or www.yaddo.org.
The gardens are open free to the public daily year-round. The Yaddo Gardens attract about 40,000 visitors annually, and each summer several couples choose the gardens as the site for their wedding. The YGA offers guided tours at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (and Tuesdays during the Saratoga Race Course season) from late June through Labor Day for $5 per person.
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