By Kristina Cole and Lorie McClory
When I moved to the tail end of Brookridge Drive many years ago, I remember how easy it was if I did not pay attention to forget to turn onto Brookridge Drive and then suddenly wonder where the heck I was. The Special Place chair and secretary at the time were our neighbors, Les and Peggy Allison. It was Peggy who started to hang a spring swag or a holiday wreath on our Brookridge Drive sign as a way to welcome everyone back to our little corner of the world. It also made the turn harder to miss even if you were on autopilot.
I started working with Peggy and continued with her encouragement to “beautify” Brookridge. Donations from the neighbors helped pay for plants and planters, and we started to regularly plant annuals near our street sign every summer. When the Allisons moved to Connecticut, I happily took over the responsibility.
Brookridge planter / Kristina Cole
As I plant or water, neighbors drive by with thumbs up to show their appreciation. Some will stop on their way home to check if the flowers need watering, or to trim or deadhead a few blooms. I enjoy planting a dense selection of mostly sun-loving annuals since I don’t have much sun on my own property, making the work a double treat.
Some years the floral selection and aesthetic are better than others. For several years I planted cleome, or spider flower until I discovered that someone was yanking them out by their roots as soon as they were in full bloom and tall enough to cover a portion of the road sign. I decided not to plant them again.
Brookridge chili team, Marty McDonald, Kathy Tucker, and Kristina Cole / File photo
We are encouraged to keep our planter looking nice because of all the other delightful plantings and pots located throughout the community and the hard work of Eastman’s Gardens and Grounds Committee. One year we adopted a “forgotten” barrel along another road, cleaning and planting it for the season. It made me smile when the following year it was reclaimed, full and blooming again.
In the winter, our neighbors the McClorys become the caretakers of the planters. A live evergreen wreath has taken the place of the dusty fake one that we had used in the past, creating a new tradition that the snowplow sometimes decorates with real snow.
But most people who come into Brookridge Special Place won’t see those plantings or the wreath because they come in the “back door” via Clearwater Drive to access John’s Glen for hiking, cross country skiing or snowshoeing. Brookridge is also home to Andy’s Alley and a large portion of Deerpath Trail serves as a boundary between Brookridge and Spring Glen Special Places. The lovely Eastman Brook, which runs along our western edge, separates Brookridge from Greensward Special Place.
According to Eastman: The First Twenty-five Years, 1971-1996, the developer’s original plans called for a portion of Brookridge to be set aside for RVs, tents and stationary mobile homes to provide for affordable housing as well as temporary living space for property owners while their homes were being built. This plan was abandoned for financial reasons as lots had to be sold to keep the project moving. Brookridge started out with 77 properties, but annexation and retirement of lots has left only 34 privately owned properties, 22 of which are developed. Eastman owns 24 lots here, 22 of which are retired.
Demographically, the neighborhood has a few families with young children, several retirees, and a good number of “working folks,” including a hospital president, a newspaper publisher, and a state trooper. We’re a small but active group, having participated in the David’s House Chili Cook-off and, in 2010, hosting a communitywide St. Patrick’s Day dance to benefit the Newport Food Pantry.
I’ve noticed lately that our sign needs to be repainted as the letters have peeled. I’ll see what I can do because what really makes that sign and those flowers important is that it marks the beginning of the road home, that place of refuge and security, of a hot dinner, of the pets and the people we cherish, and the connection we can make with all our neighbors on Brookridge Drive.
Kristina Cole is the green thumb “I” throughout this piece who does the planting and beautifying. She and husband, Lynn, have lived on the Brookridge cul-de-sac since 1999.
Lorie McClory, husband, Dan, and their children, Shawn and Erin, moved to McClory hill in 1995. She does not have a green thumb and limits her help to storing the barrels during the off season.
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