BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — Woodwild Park, an undeveloped four-acre park and wildlife sanctuary along Middlesex Avenue, will be the focal point for the Art in the Garden Tour this year.
The Metuchen Arts Council is joining with several community groups — the Borough Improvement League, Woodwild Park Association, and the Metuchen Garden Club — to serve as the hosts to the tour from 1-4 p.m. on June 26.
“Not many know the history about Woodwild Park,” said Robert Diken, chairman of the Art and the Garden Tour.
Diken said this year’s tour collaboration will marry the annual Art in the Garden Tour of private gardens with a public space.
He said the Art in the Garden Tour, which has been run the last three years, were tours of five private gardens in and around Metuchen. Each garden was matched with original artwork along with live acoustic music.
Diken said he had joined the Woodwild Park Association, a non-profit volunteer membership organization. And when he learned of the association’s fundraising campaign to restore an aging antique horse trough, a staple in Woodwild Park, he thought the Art in the Garden Tour would be the best public outlet to let people know about the hidden jewel in the borough.
Built in 1900, the horse trough, which sits at the intersection of Middlesex and Oak avenues, was a one-time water fountain for passing horses as well as dogs during the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
Along with the horse trough, the association hopes to restore the historic mid-19th century stone pillars along Route 27 that frame the entrance of the park.
The park, which was given to the citizens of Metuchen in the late 19th century, is a wild forest, home to a variety of wildlife, indigenous flora, fauna, hiking paths, and a “kettle pond” formed when the glaciers receded.
Visitors will be walking in the footsteps of prior visitors such as Mark Twain, Ogden Nash and Joyce Kilmer.
The garden at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church along with two other private gardens adjacent to the park will also be on the tour.
Ten artists will be at work in the park creating work that depicts aspects of the park and musicians will be stationed throughout the tour.
The artists’ work will then be auctioned off at a wine and cheese reception at the Old Franklin Schoolhouse between 6 to 8 p.m.
Proceeds from the silent auction will be for the benefit of the Woodwild Park Association’s fundraising campaign to restore the park’s landmarks and proceeds from the tour ticket sales will go toward arts programming in Metuchen.
Advance tour tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the Brass Lantern, Gardenias Floral and Borough Hall. Tickets are $25 the day of the event. A rain date is set for July 3.
For more information visit www.metuchenarts.com.