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Our Valued Community Partnerships Greenwood Centre for Living History works with Community Partners to enrich the lives of residents and visitors to the area. We appreciate the ongoing support of the following organizations and individuals... Hudson Historical Society
Phoebe Hyde recognized the importance to a town – and to the country – of what French historian Pierre Nora calls “sites of memory.” These sites are not dead relics, of significance only in the distant past; they resonate still in the present, forming the organic link between the past and today. A town that does not value its sites of memory condemns itself to a vacuous state of “presentism.” Concretely, the Greenwood Centre for Living History plays a significant role in Hudson’s cultural life, both for tourists and for local residents, with a variety of events that include the Philippe Gigantes Speakers Series and its education outreach program, and the upcoming StoryFest, with activities for participants of all ages. Greenwood generously provides space for the HHS archives. Among many other important artifacts it is the home of a significant collection of glass from the days when glass-making was an important local industry. The Greenwood Centre for Living History has so woven itself into the fabric of life here in Hudson that it is startling to realize that it has been with us for only 10 years. With its active group of volunteers and supporters, it should continue to play an ever more significant role as a site of living memory in Hudson and beyond. Greenwood contributes much to the community and deserves its support. Kevin O’Donnell Hudson Garden Club
It is to be noted that Phoebe Hyde was a founding member of HGC. HGC acknowledges its beginnings and the Sugar Maple in the garden on the Greenwood site with a commemorative plaque is living proof of that acknowledgement. HGC assists, when possible and encourages horticultural and other endeavours undertaken by Greenwood. We make an effort to attend Greenwood's AGM and exchange activity calendars earl in the year to avoid date duplication and over-booking for popular summer weekends. Members of HGC participated actively in focus groups initiated by Greenwood. We communicate both on the phone, in person and by E-mail on a regular basis. Carole Ann O’Connell http://hgc.fsheq.org/
War Memorial Library
Cheryl Reay
Hudson Players' Club
Phoebe Hyde was a talented actress who had a distinguished career and had fostered drama at 'Greenwood' with local actors: the Players' Club was delighted to count her as a staunch member. She directed many of our rehearsed play-readings, which were rehearsed at 'Greenwood', and she taught us a great deal about acting and direction. The foundation of 'Greenwood' as a 'Centre for Living History' has been extremely important to the Players' Club, not only because it keeps Phoebe's memory alive for us but because we are enabled to carry on her tradition of open-air theatre in the garden, and have also participated in the 'Old-fashioned Christmas' festivities and other events of a theatrical nature there. The house is also home to Phoebe's substantial library, containing scripts and books on stagecraft, as well as the collection of fascinating artifacts relating to local history and from all over the world. It is a unique resource. - a real jewel in Hudson's crown, and we are so fortunate to have it.
David Clayton
Shepherd Family We all love Greenwood. The shepherds watched their phlox by night -- and day as well -- unembarrassed by the biblical pun or the copious red hued gardens they had so profusely planted with these and other flora, having inherited Greenwood from their in-laws, the Delesderniers, in the 1850s. This account is about the gregarious Shepherds and their equally endowed descendents and those of fellow citizens who now enjoy these premises, with so many capable volunteers maintaining and promoting them, in a traditional spirit of friendship, welcome and delight in pleasing their many visitors. In the years following his marriage to Mary Cecilia Delesderniers in 1847, RW Shepherd acquired most of the lots along Main Road between St. Mary's Church and Willow in, and built houses and bequeathed the properties to his nine surviving children thus creating around Greenwood a close and spirited family community for many generations. Meanwhile, various members of this family owned or lived in Greenwood after 1850, occupying themselves and their means improving the property. RW Shepherd's youngest son, Delesderniers Shepherd, was bequeathed Greenwood in 1901, and immediately remodeled the ground floor of the east end, including the entrance hall with a new central stairway and gable, and the east drawing room, and made architectural changes throughout the house, and creating a quite elegant residence. Like his brothers and sisters, he and his wife, Vicki McCallum, entertained lavishly. By 1924, when Del died, Greenwood had been acquired by Dr. Francis John Shepherd for his daughter Cecilia Shepherd, Phoebe Hyde’s mother, who had married a well-known architect Percy Erskine Nobbs in 1909. They, too, embarked on a program of renovation, so that from 1955 when Phoebe Erskine Nobbs (1910 – 1994) inherited the property it was being maintained as the splendid manor house which today's visitors so admire and love. From age 14, Phoebe had felt it was her responsibility to keep Greenwood for a ‘family museum’, and had begun a visitor’s book and displayed memorabilia from the Delesderniers, Shepherd and Nobbs families as part of Greenwood's decor. She spent her summers there but at 21 enrolled in the royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She used Greenwood's garden as a summer theater and for awhile a summer school for children, offering Shakespeare and Indian plays, with performances by young people and adults from the community, or further afield. We Shepherd descendents, living a few doors away, were of course enrolled without much option (and Phoebe’s somewhat impatient foot was stamped at our tardiness). But it became a memorable occasion to perform at Greenwood, today a tradition with performances organized and produced by the Hudson players and Village Theater professionals, for the benefit of throngs of summer visitors. Thus Greenwood, with Phoebe’s memorable guidance and inspiration, and the professional and dedicated contribution of volunteers of various callings, has evolved as an elegant manor in keeping with the Shepherd style, exuding the sort of warmth and welcome for which the family became renowned through several generations; indeed a Center for Living History! Fred G. Henshaw Village Theatre
Greenwood is an education and a delight, and a magnificent example (like the Chateau du Lac and the Station) of preserving an old building and breathing into it new life. Mark Drake Westwood High School
This collaboration between school and a community institution is certainly unique in the region – other schools look upon us with some degree of envy. Through the Gigantes partnership, the school has come to appreciate just how important Greenwood is as a centre of living history, our history - and how fortunate we are that it is available to us. We are now exploring other ways by which we might further integrate Greenwood, and all it has to offer, into different facets of the school curriculum. Michael Miller, Principal |