It started with a donation and a phone call.
In 2019, when landowner J. Kent McNew donated more than 5 acres of farmland in Edgewater to the Chesapeake Conservancy, an Annapolis-based environmental nonprofit, for passive recreational use, or an area intended for activities like walking or picnicking, the wheels started turning in Joel Dunn’s head.
Dunn, the outgoing president and CEO of the conservancy, reached out to Anne Arundel County’s Department of Recreation and Parks with an idea: making the 5.6-acre space off Solomons Island Road in Edgewater a park with a community garden.
In 2022, the county purchased the land for $350,000 from the conservancy, and on Tuesday, county officials marked the official opening of what’s now known as the McNew Community Gardens.
“Places like this are where people become conservationists of the future. This is where they learn to love nature,” Dunn said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “It can be [something] as simple as growing a tomato that can inspire a kid who may grow up to be the next Vince Leggett.”
Leggett, who died Saturday at the age of 71, was the founder and president of Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, which preserves the culture of African American communities on the bay.
The McNew Community Gardens will have 36 raised beds of various sizes created and managed by Grow Annapolis, a nonprofit focused on fostering organic community gardens, as well as an area for bulk deliveries, a tool shed and hoses, said Cathy Umphrey, vice chair of the nonprofit. Some utilities and infrastructure are already onsite, including a deer fence around the garden, faucets, an accessible sidewalk and parking.
Umphrey said she’s confident the plots will be available to rent for $50 or less next spring. Grow Annapolis also provides financial aid.
Additional funding for development of the gardens comes from a $10,000 state bond initiative approved in 2021.
The gardens, set back from a busy thoroughfare in a semi-shaded area, are an “oasis” from the surrounding development, Dunn said. The land was previously zoned to allow for an assisted living facility.
“The idea to put conservation easements on the property to prevent further development was to create a lasting habitat for all things wild,” McNew, who owned the land, said in a news release. “The county gardens are a great idea, and priority should be given to those most vulnerable in our society that need fresh vegetables.”
Having more public community gardens — the county only has one at Kinder Farm Park in Millersville — is something Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has thought about for several years after the pandemic and related supply chain issues.
“We don’t have that crisis right now, but we might in the future, and it’s so important for people to learn, if they don’t already know, how to grow plants and grow food, for young people to do it, for folks just to do it for their own mental health and their own physical health,” he said. Gardening can reduce stress and anxiety levels, among other benefits, the Sun reported in 2020.
The site is also accessible via public transportation, Pittman said. A county bus stop at the Arundel Lodge is less than a half mile away.
In addition, the new community garden will alleviate some of the long waiting lists for plots at existing community gardens, both public and private. Grow Annapolis manages two other private gardens, both of which have been “fully booked for so long,” Umphrey said. Plots are rented out for a calendar year, with some residents renting for several years.
Anne Arundel County Council member Lisa Rodvien said she was looking forward to the community garden coming to life.
“It’s a totally different experience than gardening in your backyard because you’re gardening with people, you’re gardening with a community,” she said. “What a beautiful way to build community around nature, around the roots of agriculture.”
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