Glebe House Museum & Gertrude Jekyll Garden Volunteer Training Planned

WOODBURY — The Glebe House Museum and Gertrude Jekyll Garden is seeking enthusiastic volunteers who have an interest in historic homes and gardens, and have the time to share the knowledge that they will learn about this historic site with the visiting public.

The museum, set in Woodbury’s historic village, center offers visitors a glimpse of Revolutionary era Connecticut. The 18th Century farmhouse is furnished as the home of Reverend John Rutgers Marshall, his wife Sarah, and their nine children, who lived in the “glebe” during the turmoil of the American War for Independence, would have lived within it.

Volunteers will be “introduced” to the family and their daily life on Hollow Road in Woodbury during the 1700s. Participants will learn how the Gertrude Jekyll Garden came to be planted, and its significance to the gardening world.

The house and garden is open to the public May through November and by appointment throughout the year. There are also numerous special group tours, school tours, community events, lectures, after school programs, summer camps and other programs the Glebe House Museum — with the help from its volunteers — offers to the public.

Although the most visible jobs of the volunteers are those of shopkeepers and docents, others assist with newsletters, publicity, special events, office work, bookkeeping, mailings, and garden maintenance.

Regardless of which capacity a volunteer serves, all need to know the underlying stories the Glebe House has to share with the public.

Training for volunteers will begin in March and will include an orientation, an overview of the history of the house and garden, a basic introduction to some of the daily work done in the 18th Century such as spinning, and guide training. Anyone interested in learning and teaching others about local history, the daily life of people in the 18th Century, museum shop sales, office work, or gardening and garden design is invited to attend the training workshops.

Training will take place Saturdays, March 4, 11 and 18, from 9 am until noon, at the museum. Training sessions will be repeated Tuesdays, March 7, 14 and 21, also 9 am to noon.

Call 203-263-2855 to register.