Gloucester Daily Times
Lifestyle –Friday, June 16, 2006
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/

Tomorrow, seven private gardens scattered across Ca e Ann will open their doors to the public for a special one-day-only viewing. The Cape Ann Garden Tou , sponsored by The Sargent House Museum, will give gardening enthusiasts the opportunity to explore gardens not typically seen by the public — whether the sun is shining or not.

This is the eighth year the Sargent House has organized a benefit tour of sites around Cape Ann. For the first couple of years, the tour was held in the autumn and took participants inside homes including the Thomas Riggs House, the oldest surviving structure in the area; Alfred Mansfield Brooks' Brick House along side the American Legion; and the Birdcage House perched over Smith Cove in East Gloucester. In recent years, the tour has switched to the spring and focused more on local gardens.

It has always been a goal of tour organizers to include a variety of venues, be they homes or gardens, and this year is no different. From large professionally designed and maintained vistas to pocket-sized gardens lovingly attended by their owners, an unexpected mix of sites make up this year's tour. A highlight of tomorrow's event is the superbly tailored garden surrounding the Gallery-on-the-Moors in East Gloucester.

Designed by Ralph Adams Cram and constructed in 1916, Gallery-on-the-Moors was Gloucester's first art gallery, which held exhibits between 1916 and 1921 of works by some of this country's most renowned early 20th-century artists including John Sloan, Cecilia Beaux and Frank Duveneck. Today, the grounds surrounding the gallery have been beautifully rejuvenated by the property's current owners. Ornamental trees and shrubs, perennials, a Parterre, and a recently constructed stonewall all work together to enhance the stately appearance of this historic site.

Another highlight of this year's tour is Hilarie and Eric Holdworth's 31/2-acre site in West Gloucester. Carefully laid out around an 18th-century barn moved to Gloucester from Maine and converted into a home, the Holdsworths' gardens are constantly evolving.

"The guiding principal of this landscape," say the owners "is the fact that it is informed by the surrounding vernacular; a New England farmhouse aesthetic which combines utilitarian, agrarian gardening with ornamental ideas."

Features of this garden include an Asian-inspired screen pavilion, a traditional radial herb garden, and rustic pergolas.

The Sargent House Museum, whose own gardens will also be open for viewing as part of the tour, is housed in a 1782 Georgian-style building overlooking the west end of Main Street.

The Cape Ann Garden Tour, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., not only brings in much-needed funds for restoration of the museum's grounds and gardens, but also increases people's awareness of the organization and its mission to preserve the site. Open to the public as a historic house since 1917, the museum depends on the support and involvement of the local community to fund its activities. The garden tour, which is pulled together through the efforts of many, many people — all of them volunteers — has evolved into the museum's primary fundraising event.

Tickets to the Cape Ann Garden Tour are $20 and may be purchased in advance at the museum and at The Weathervane, 153 Main St., Gloucester. Tickets will also be available on the day of the tour for those who prefer to wait and see what the weather is like for $25 at the museum. The tour is self-guided and carpooling is encouraged since parking is limited at many of the sites. For more on the event, call the museum at 978-281-2432.

"Seeing seARTS" is an occasional Times feature featuring the work of seARTS members or those who participate in seARTS events. The Society for the Encouragement of the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to re-establish Cape Ann as a world-class center for working artists in balance with the unique character of Cape Ann as a maritime community.

Other cultural events on Cape Ann

Gloucester New Arts Performance Series presents an experimental-CAMP extravaganza on St. Peter's Fiesta weekend with DIVA Dance Theatre and Dear Old Stockholm Syndrome at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 24 at Julietta House, 84 Prospect St., Gloucester. $10 suggested donation.

The three Partner with an Artist projects are on exhibit this month:

* Chad Carlberg's short film touching upon the parallel existences of the fishing industry and the arts in Gloucester film is now at Cape Pond Ice. Carlberg worked with C. B. Fisk Organ Co., Captain Carlo's, and Seafood Display Auction to develop the content of his film.

Filmmaker Henry Ferrini's "film poem," a two-minute loop of his upcoming film, "Polis Is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place," a celebration of the work of internationally renowned Gloucester poet Charles Olson continues at Doyon's TV and Modern Home Sales & Service at 11 Rogers Street in Gloucester, and at Winchester Fishing Co. at 18 Washington Street in Gloucester.

Photographer Paul Cary Goldberg's series of abstract color photographs of sites in and around the Gloucester Marine Railways, continues at the second floor office, 81 Rocky Neck Ave., Gloucester. Additionally, Goldberg has a sister exhibition at the Maritime Heritage Center, 9 Harbor Loop, where his photographic light boxes and sound installation is in a waterfront shed.Tour magnificent gardens of Cape Ann tomorrow

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