Marjorie’s Garden
by Kathy Rudolph
P
atricia Stilwell loved to sit
under her pergola in her
backyard garden in Moon Township.
“My father built it over 30 years
ago,” says Anne Forman, Stilwell’s
daughter. “My mom had taken some
clippings from her Great Aunt Rose,
who had brought grapevines from
Italy and she grew those grapevines
on the pergola all of our lives. She
would pick the grapes and make
grape juice, grape jam and jelly for
her children and grandchildren.”
Stilwell’s love of nature, along
with her love for Robin Hill Park,
motivated her family to donate a
pergola in honor of their mother,
who passed away last September.
An open framework that creates
an archway, the pergola will be
part of Marjorie’s Garden—a
project Stilwell had volunteered for
beginning in the 1970s.
The garden was founded by the
late Marjorie Rode around 1978.
The area chosen was an existing
overgrown flower garden with brick
paths located on a hillside to the
south of Robin Hill Center. The
project was so successful that one
year later Rode was asked by Robin
Hill Associates to form the
Robin Hill Herb Society. In
1987, Robin Hill Associates and
Moon Township honored Rode
by renaming the garden after her.
Although the Herb Garden Society
disbanded over the years, Marjorie’s
Garden is now maintained by The
Moon Township Garden Club.
A resident of Moon Township
for over 55 years, Stilwell took great
pleasure volunteering in Marjorie’s
Garden. “My mom was the daughter
Pergola donation honors
Patricia Stilwell, longtime volunteer
of the herb garden in Robin Hill Park .
Amy Ottaviani holds
an old rendering of
Marjorie’s Garden.
Photo by K athy Rudolph
32 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Moon Township
of Italian immigrants so she grew up
planting and cultivating food from
the garden,” says Forman. “Being
part of the [garden] club was a way
for her to reconnect with her roots.
She was very social and this was a
good social activity. She had five
children so it was a way for her to
get out of the house and meet other
women who became her lifetime
friends. It was her way of giving
back to the community because she
wouldn’t have financially been able
to do so with five kids.”
In the spirit of creating beautiful
spaces for the community to enjoy,
a renovation of Marjorie’s Garden
is being planned. The Township
of Moon and Moon Parks and
Recreation are working with the
Moon Garden Club to evaluate the
plan to relocate the garden.
“The Herb Garden is a wonderful
historic place and we would like
to reinvent it,” says Amy Ottaviani,
who oversees Moon Township
Community Engagement and
Partnerships. “We want to move it to
increase accessibility for everyone. I
see the renovated garden as a serene,
peaceful, accessible space for older
people, those with disabilities and all
residents.”
It’s all about more opportunities
for residents to get outdoors and
enjoy Moon Township Parks.
“Many children and adults are
isolated from nature, and connecting
people to nature is a primary goal
of the National Parks and
Recreation Association and also
the PA Parks and Recreation
Society,” says Ottaviani. ■