This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Volunteer Effort Sweeps Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum

More than one hundred volunteers donate their time and sweat to clean up the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.

More than 150 volunteers rolled up their sleeves and slipped on their gloves so that they could get down to clean the grounds of the Bartow Pell Mansion Museum on Saturday.

This second annual cleanup was hosted in order to spiff up the nine acres surrounding this18th century country house that were ravaged by winter storms and invasive plant species. Volunteers of all ages, from students, to Con Edison workers, to local residents came to help out.

“We did the first phase of the restoration work, removing all the debris and misused plantings,” said Luis Marmol, horticulture intern. Marmol is helping to reestablish the Bartow-Pell formal gardens to their 1911 state.

Find out what's happening in Pelhamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I’m proud to say, it was all done in a very green sustainable way—no chainsaws or heavy motorized equipment was used at all. It was all digging out, the old fashioned way, just as it would had been done in the early part of the 19th century.”

Teams of volunteers cleared brush and fallen timber around the front gate to give space to a population of beech trees and to open up the area. All along the driveway—a section that had been cleared by a Sierra Club service project last fall—was covered in woodchips to prevent any undergrowth from coming back. The view of the water was restored to the way it was viewed by the mansion’s original residents.

Find out what's happening in Pelhamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Volunteers came from a number of places and organizations. Students from the Beta Alpha Psi Honors Society for accounting and finance majors from Fordham University, NYU, Baruch College, St. John’s University, and Pace University helped out. Students from Frederick Douglass Academy, Bronx YMCA Middle School 376 group, Brooklyn Technical High School Key Club also joined in the effort. Many Pelhamites and 10 Con Edison workers, who underwrote the entire cleanup day, also participated.

Con Edison, a provider of integral grants to Bartow Pell’s education program for NYC students, also provided financial funding for the event, tools, and refreshments.

“Con Edison has a deep-rooted affinity for organizations like Bartow,” said Eric Soto, director of Bronx Public Affairs for Con Edison.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?