When we researched a place to stay this past June, the web photos of the garden at 49 Oliver St. in Bristol attracted us. When we arrived there it was even more than we had imagined! Soft immersion into the Portuguese culture of Bristol. In the way of a Portuguese garden it held a lovely story that soon was uncovered. This post is about that story.
Someone wrote me that it confused him that I was not writing about the School Street Village in Taunton. Ah, but this is a sister Village still vibrant in its Portuguese culture and heritage - it charmed and delighted this old Portuguese soul. It will do that for you, too. It enlarges our heritage as every new story does.
When I was growing up in my own Village, there were elderly grandfather gentleman tending the back gardens of School Street. I never knew my grandfathers, so these gentle people struck my imagination and carved out a niche there.
The Portuguese immigrants who came to America carried the planting gene in their DNA. They added new information and plantings and succeeded in accomplishing lush and fertile gardens where they grew most of their own food. The title of Master Gardener was not invented then, but I believe those gardeners, and their progeny were and are way ahead of that title.
In their bib overalls and soft crunched hats they tended their crops of corn, cabbage, kale and more . There was such a Grandfather Gardener right next door to us at my childhood home in the Village in Taunton in the early 1950's : Mr Costa. Quietly with gnarled hands the earth is tilled into the soil and the soil returns the favor worked by touch and remembrance. Portuguese gardens have pride of place, they always did. They anchor the home, softens its trials and sorrows. The garden has seen it all. He tended the green acreage that was for him a reminder of the Portuguese home he had left behind, the Mother Garden as it were. He also had a flock of chickens. Their little shed nestled up to our grapevine and the chain link fence between our house and his.
The soft clucking of Mr. Costa's hens in their little house next door formed a musical theme to the backdrop of my childhood. Remember the fences on either side of our house had gates in them and were the right height for neighbors to lean on and chat. We were linked: by heritage, by green gardens, and friendship.
This Bristol story now takes my heritage memory to a whole new level. For at 49 Oliver St., I came upon something so close to those memories that it awakened all the others.
Mr. Oliveira was more than just a gardener, he was a beloved mentor. A native of the Azores, he brought with him the traditions and knowledge he had grown up learning. Mr. Oliveira became the father-in-law of Mr. Ed Castro and the garden became their classroom. Eventually, it passed to the Castro couple and it has been lovingly tended over the past 50 years with love for this mentor and for the heritage that the garden still is today.
Mr. Oliveira and Mr. Castro in the Garden
taken some years ago.
In time, with his knowledge and experience, Ed and his father-in-law opened the heritage garden, now a place of magic greenery, to groups of school children. Hosting 60 first and second graders from where his wife was a teacher's aide he added to their own memories. Each child was given a small kale plant to plant in the garden before they left, their own tiny heritage plant. Adult visitors would often take home one of Mr. Oliveira's small brooms. Those brooms, by the way, apparently lasted years and years.
At that time, at the age of 87, Luis Oliveira still went out back to his garden at 5:30 each morning until the day became too warm. He returned in the cool of the evening. He had done all the work in the vineyards in his home in the Azores. His favorite shady spot in Bristol was his grapevine arbor. Today, long after he passed away, his son-in-law keeps up the garden with the help of another grandfatherly gentleman who tends the kale, fava beans and more while dreaming his own bygone dreams of home. I found him there one morning and he softly bid me good morning, his accent music to my ears.
The garden at 49 Oliver St.
It was to this apartment and garden that my husband and I came while on a trip to New England, We stayed for 10 days. Each day was a gift, a blessing. The garden was a place where we could sit in the shade, serenaded by the many birds who found shelter and food there, be entertained by the small cat whose garden was his home away from home and listen to the music of the koi fountain. What is a Portuguese garden without a cat? We could listen to pots and pans being readied for the evening meal and the song of children playing in a nearby playground.
I often sketched there, photographed the flowers, the Azores vegetables and of course, the cat. There, too, I photographed our family and friends when they visited. The garden gifted us each day with new memories layered on to the new...memories of another Village, not too far away but for the years.
Now for a treat: Rhode Island Public Radio did a web slideshow of the garden which includes a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Castro and photos of the garden, It was posted Oct. 12, 2013 by Emma Roddick who probably took the wonderful photos. Some of the photos are in this post. You can see more photographs and play the audio to get a full appreciation for this very special place.
http://ripr.org/post/one-square-mile-portuguese-gardens-bristol
The best trips are those that keep dancing in your memory. Such memories come with feelings of rest, of beauty, of family and friends and in this case, memories of faith. Who would think.. one rents a space and finds a treasure. Many, many thanks to the Castro family, for their friendship and their sharing. We will return!
Someone wrote me that it confused him that I was not writing about the School Street Village in Taunton. Ah, but this is a sister Village still vibrant in its Portuguese culture and heritage - it charmed and delighted this old Portuguese soul. It will do that for you, too. It enlarges our heritage as every new story does.
When I was growing up in my own Village, there were elderly grandfather gentleman tending the back gardens of School Street. I never knew my grandfathers, so these gentle people struck my imagination and carved out a niche there.
The Portuguese immigrants who came to America carried the planting gene in their DNA. They added new information and plantings and succeeded in accomplishing lush and fertile gardens where they grew most of their own food. The title of Master Gardener was not invented then, but I believe those gardeners, and their progeny were and are way ahead of that title.
In their bib overalls and soft crunched hats they tended their crops of corn, cabbage, kale and more . There was such a Grandfather Gardener right next door to us at my childhood home in the Village in Taunton in the early 1950's : Mr Costa. Quietly with gnarled hands the earth is tilled into the soil and the soil returns the favor worked by touch and remembrance. Portuguese gardens have pride of place, they always did. They anchor the home, softens its trials and sorrows. The garden has seen it all. He tended the green acreage that was for him a reminder of the Portuguese home he had left behind, the Mother Garden as it were. He also had a flock of chickens. Their little shed nestled up to our grapevine and the chain link fence between our house and his.
The photo above is of the back of 184 School Street before we moved there in 1952. My cousin Beverly and my Aunt Alveda refresh themselves on a sunny day probably in the late 40's . Directly in back of the fence is their field of corn and other vegetables, the higher corn next door is the Costa planting area. These parallel gardens of crops lined the back yards of many School Street Village homes. It felt good to see those same kind of back gardens
along the Portuguese Village area of Bristol.
along the Portuguese Village area of Bristol.
The soft clucking of Mr. Costa's hens in their little house next door formed a musical theme to the backdrop of my childhood. Remember the fences on either side of our house had gates in them and were the right height for neighbors to lean on and chat. We were linked: by heritage, by green gardens, and friendship.
This Bristol story now takes my heritage memory to a whole new level. For at 49 Oliver St., I came upon something so close to those memories that it awakened all the others.
Introducing Luis Oliveira. I almost need not say more, this painting of Mr. Oliveira speaks volumes. In the painting, he is holding the corn stalks he grew to make brooms, still grown in his garden today. He is the picture of a Portuguese Grandfather gardener. The painting hangs in the kitchen of the apartment where he and his family once lived. That is now a rental apartment but it is unchanged since the days he raised his family there.
It is utterly charming.
It is utterly charming.
We came home with stalks like this, a perfect souvenir.
Mr. Oliveira was more than just a gardener, he was a beloved mentor. A native of the Azores, he brought with him the traditions and knowledge he had grown up learning. Mr. Oliveira became the father-in-law of Mr. Ed Castro and the garden became their classroom. Eventually, it passed to the Castro couple and it has been lovingly tended over the past 50 years with love for this mentor and for the heritage that the garden still is today.
taken some years ago.
In time, with his knowledge and experience, Ed and his father-in-law opened the heritage garden, now a place of magic greenery, to groups of school children. Hosting 60 first and second graders from where his wife was a teacher's aide he added to their own memories. Each child was given a small kale plant to plant in the garden before they left, their own tiny heritage plant. Adult visitors would often take home one of Mr. Oliveira's small brooms. Those brooms, by the way, apparently lasted years and years.
At that time, at the age of 87, Luis Oliveira still went out back to his garden at 5:30 each morning until the day became too warm. He returned in the cool of the evening. He had done all the work in the vineyards in his home in the Azores. His favorite shady spot in Bristol was his grapevine arbor. Today, long after he passed away, his son-in-law keeps up the garden with the help of another grandfatherly gentleman who tends the kale, fava beans and more while dreaming his own bygone dreams of home. I found him there one morning and he softly bid me good morning, his accent music to my ears.
It was to this apartment and garden that my husband and I came while on a trip to New England, We stayed for 10 days. Each day was a gift, a blessing. The garden was a place where we could sit in the shade, serenaded by the many birds who found shelter and food there, be entertained by the small cat whose garden was his home away from home and listen to the music of the koi fountain. What is a Portuguese garden without a cat? We could listen to pots and pans being readied for the evening meal and the song of children playing in a nearby playground.
I often sketched there, photographed the flowers, the Azores vegetables and of course, the cat. There, too, I photographed our family and friends when they visited. The garden gifted us each day with new memories layered on to the new...memories of another Village, not too far away but for the years.
Now for a treat: Rhode Island Public Radio did a web slideshow of the garden which includes a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Castro and photos of the garden, It was posted Oct. 12, 2013 by Emma Roddick who probably took the wonderful photos. Some of the photos are in this post. You can see more photographs and play the audio to get a full appreciation for this very special place.
http://ripr.org/post/one-square-mile-portuguese-gardens-bristol
The best trips are those that keep dancing in your memory. Such memories come with feelings of rest, of beauty, of family and friends and in this case, memories of faith. Who would think.. one rents a space and finds a treasure. Many, many thanks to the Castro family, for their friendship and their sharing. We will return!
Sources for this Post
- Memories shared by Mr. and Mrs. Castro
-Above cited Slideshow from Rhode Island Public Radio archives.
-Providence Journal, June 22, 1997 "One Square Mile: The Portuguese Gardens of Bristol"
-Bristol Phoenix, Aug. 18, 2005 Home Section: "Mentoring Grows New Gardeners"
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