Keeping the tradition blooming

By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

The Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum’s heritage peony gardens have received a much-needed facelift just in time for fall thanks to Eagle Scout candidate and longtime museum volunteer Jacob Neish.

After months of planning — and delays because of the coronavirus pandemic — Neish gathered his family and fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 80 at the museum on Saturday, Sept. 26, to build new raised beds around the peony gardens.

“I started working on the entire rink probably almost three months prior to that,” Neish said.

Eagle Scout candidate and longtime Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum volunteer Jacob Neish recently revamped the heritage peony gardens outside the museum for his Eagle Scout project with the help of his family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 80.

Eagle Scout candidate and longtime Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum volunteer Jacob Neish recently revamped the heritage peony gardens outside the museum for his Eagle Scout project with the help of his family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 80.

Eagle Scout candidate and longtime Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum volunteer Jacob Neish recently revamped the heritage peony gardens outside the museum for his Eagle Scout project with the help of his family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 80.

Eagle Scout candidate and longtime Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum volunteer Jacob Neish recently revamped the heritage peony gardens outside the museum for his Eagle Scout project with the help of his family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 80.

Eagle Scout candidate and longtime Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum volunteer Jacob Neish recently revamped the heritage peony gardens outside the museum for his Eagle Scout project with the help of his family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 80.

Jacob Neish reviews the project notes from his troop leader Andy LeMay’s work on the Shacksboro garden from 30 years ago as his father, Doug Neish, looks on.

Eagle Scout candidate and longtime Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum volunteer Jacob Neish recently revamped the heritage peony gardens outside the museum for his Eagle Scout project with the help of his family and fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 80.

From left to right are Doug Neish, Jacob Neish, Andy LeMay, Lilly Lavellette, Brad Brundidge, Erik LeMay, Michael Lavellette, Kyle Goodale, Collin Goodale, Pearl Lavellette and Brian Brundidge.

Neish drafted blueprints for the four raised beds, which are made up of pressure-treated 2×10 framing lumber.

“I haven’t done anything like that before, but I just kind of drew it up on a piece of paper,” he said.

Neish collected bottles and cans to raise money for the project with the help of McBride’s Bottle and Can Return on Smokey Hollow Road. He received $1,275 in donations — and he needed every cent, as the price of lumber has skyrocketed during the pandemic. The Home Depot delivered the materials to the project site, and Neish and his fellow volunteers got to work.

While gearing up for the project, Neish discovered a personal connection in the gardens’ history.

“Halfway through, I found out it was one of my troop leaders’ projects 30 years ago,” Neish said.

Troop leader Andy LeMay undertook the same project in his own quest to become an Eagle Scout three decades ago. LeMay was part of the crew that helped put Neish’s raised beds together last month.

Neish, a senior at Baker High School, is enrolled in the BOCES welding program and plans to attend trade school after graduation. He also plans to continue volunteering at Shacksboro and as a Boy Scout leader.

“It’s definitely going to help me get a better job and have better leadership skills throughout my life,” Neish said of his Scouting career.

The heritage peony garden at Shacksboro contains 200 varieties of pink, rose, red, cream and white peonies descended from the plants of Indian Spring Farms Inc., a nationally known Lysander farm that went out of business during the Great Depression. The Shacksboro Museum celebrates its heritage peony collection each June with Peony Fest, which features a flower show, sale and live entertainment.

To learn more about the heritage peony garden, visit shacksboromuseum.com.