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Buodinot’s Giving Garden

by | Jun 7, 2025 | Gardens

At the historic Ross Farm at 15 North Maple Avenue in Basking Ridge, NJ, our vegetable and flower gardens are a vibrant testament to the natural beauty and bountiful spirit of the estate.  The garden donates fresh produce to several local organizations that help those in need, including the Somerset County Food Bank and Community Hope at the Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in Lyons, as well as God’s Co-Op Pantry.  The pop-up food pantry created during the pandemic at St. Bernard’s Church in Bernardsville was added to that list this year.  The senior garden leadership team recently broke through the 1,000-pound mark, harvesting over 300 pounds in just one week.  Over the past five years, Boudinot’s Giving Garden has been a hub of volunteerism in the community, attracting a diverse group of individuals, from students seeking community service hours to parents and young children working together, and senior citizens who have the time and desire to give back to the community in a meaningful way.

The pop-up food pantry created during the pandemic at St. Bernard’s Church in Bernardsville was added to that list this year.

The senior garden leadership team recently broke through the 1,000-pound mark, harvesting over 300 pounds in just one week.

With an additional 185 pounds harvested last week, the new total stands at 1,261 pounds, according to Basking Ridge resident Jan Williams, a board member of the Friends of the Boudinot-Southard-Ross Estate (FoBSR) board and garden leader from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Basking Ridge.

The 2019 record-breaking harvest from the garden was 2,342 pounds. This year’s harvest seems to be on par, so garden leaders are optimistic that this year’s yield will meet or exceed that record.

While the harvest is about the same, one major difference is the volunteer workforce that makes it possible.

Over the past five years, Boudinot’s Giving Garden has been a hub of volunteerism in the community, attracting a diverse group of individuals, from students seeking community service hours to parents and young children working together, and senior citizens who have the time and desire to give back to the community in a meaningful way.  Leadership teams from a consortium of churches, including St. Bernard’s and St. John on the Mountain in Bernardsville and St. Mark’s, plan and manage the garden. They also meet with volunteers several times a week to prepare the garden beds, plant, weed, harvest, and perform all the necessary tasks to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the volunteer workforce has been severely limited to ensure social distancing. As a result, all of the work this year has been performed by a small group of garden leaders from the churches and FoBSR.  Williams thanked the Somerset County Parks Commission for its multi-faceted support of the garden over the years. She needed to get their permission for a small contingent of workers this year, even as the Ross Farm gates were padlocked when county parks were closed.  Other community events held each year at Ross Farm – such as its popular summer music series and the annual ARTsee Happening event – were cancelled in 2020, but the garden continues to thrive.

“The county understood the need for this essential work to continue so we could feed those in need in a time when that number was certainly going to grow,’’ Williams said. “A few of us would park in a driveway across the street and carry our tools up the long driveway, back to the garden, so we could keep the garden growing.”

Helping Neighbors

Williams noted that from the start, garden organizers “had a primary goal of donating fresh food to those in need in our own communities, in our county, as neighbors helping neighbors.”  The church consortium had previously worked at a community garden in Bernardsville. Still, some members of FoBSR envisioned having a garden at Ross Farm to grow pumpkins for the group’s participation in the county’s annual History Weekend.  Williams said that while a community garden is generally a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people who then keep the produce, all of the food grown in Boudinot’s Giving Garden is donated to those in need.  The church group and the non-profit board of the historic estate came together to bring Boudinot’s Giving Garden to life.  The volunteers focus on three points: growing healthy food, growing food that is needed, and growing vegetables that are less affordable or less accessible in grocery stores.  They don’t grow corn, for instance, because it is plentiful and relatively inexpensive at the grocery store, and like potatoes, it takes up a lot of space.  However, they do grow Brussels sprouts, carrots, zucchini, onions, squash, muskmelons, beans, several varieties of peppers, tomatoes, beets, radishes, tomatillos, and more.

Williams said that in the earlier years, the gardeners kept only rough estimates of the total harvest. As they expanded and moved solely to the Ross Farm, though, they realized they should keep track of the harvest, “not to gloat, but to be able to produce enough for each place we donate predictably and to track our successes and the effectiveness of improvements we implement.”  She said that 2,000 pounds is about the right amount to share among the three groups in the county and the Lyons Veterans Center.  Last year, the garden gained a new feature that had been in the works from the beginning, with the completion of a “historic bed” in the center of the garden.

Circled by logs hewn from a fallen tree on the property, the bed grows herbs that would have been found in New Jersey in earlier days. Williams points to a strong partnership with volunteers from the Wick Garden at Jockey Hollow National Park for providing plantings for the historic bed.  Annuals planted in front of the garden fence also serve as pollinators, adding extra beauty.  “It’s a magnificent place,” Williams said, pointing out that the group practices organic gardening and tries to use only natural items to fertilize and keep out critters and control insects.  Examples include aluminum foil wrapped around the base of zucchini to prevent squash bugs from harming the plants, and pie pans filled with beer set among other plants to deter slugs.  Williams said garden leaders work together to plan the garden each year. They also experiment with new things, she said, pointing to a smaller bed in the garden where they’d finally gotten a good crop of carrots for the first time last year.  Asparagus was also great last year, she said, noting that it takes three years to harvest, but then reseeds and comes back more plentifully the next year.

Community Effort

The crew also composts and benefits from prior Eagle Scout projects that provided composting beds as well as an essential garden shed.  In addition, Girl Scouts have created a butterfly garden and garden markers made from wooden spoons.  FoBSR member Peter Winter created a reliable watering system. Improving irrigation is an ongoing effort.

Young children visit with their parents to learn about gardening, including crop rotation, harvesting, and the impact of insects and animals on a harvest, as well as ways to help their community.  Teens who have volunteered in the past seem to be happy to “get their hours in’’ while working outside, whether it’s weeding or spreading wood chips along the path.  Williams and the garden leaders look forward to welcoming back a full complement of volunteers when it is safe to do so, but in the meantime, take comfort and pleasure in their efforts.  Recently, Bernardsville resident Cathy Ferrara, garden leader from St. Bernard’s Church, spent her first days back in the Giving Garden.  A nurse who had been working in an active COVID-19 unit at Morristown Hospital, she explained that she didn’t want to pass the virus on to other garden volunteers, so she stayed away.  After the situation improved at the hospital, though, she was grateful to be back working on Earth.  When someone told her she was “doing the Lord’s work,” she replied that working in the garden was the Lord’s gift to her.  Joining Williams and Ferrara in the consortium are Nina Dixon of Bernardsville, Craig Johnson of Basking Ridge, Lindy Judd of Bedminster, and Hilary Thomas of Denville.

While several FoBSR members help in the garden, David Torcivia was the driving force to build the garden and continues to maintain its structural soundness.  Basking Ridge residents Hilary Klimek and Jan Malay helped form the partnership with the Wick Garden volunteers. Karen Morley, also of Basking Ridge, serves as a representative of both St. Mark’s and FoBSR.  Jeff West and Ken Van Baalen help with structural work and maintenance; Ned Nelson and David Becker can often be found chipping and doing other heavy lifting, while new FoBSR member Karin Hanlon recently joined the garden committee in an active role.  In addition, the garden crew is often on hand at public events to show guests around the historic property.  Named for its last private owner, Edmund Ross, whose estate sold the farm to Somerset County in 2005, the property was home to several prominent figures who played critical roles in the founding and early years of the United States.

Become A Sponsor Of The Ross Farm

by | Jun 7, 2025 | Sponsors

Support live music and community programming at the historic Ross Farm by becoming a sponsor of our 2025 music series! Sponsorship Benefits:

  • Your name or logo will be prominently displayed on a banner at all Ross Farm events throughout 2025.
  • Sponsors receive recognition throughout the year across our social media platforms.
  • Complimentary admissions to our outdoor concerts – use them to attend yourself or share with clients, customers, friends, or family!

Why your support matters: Now entering its 11th year, the Ross Farm Music Series continues to bring professional touring musicians to our historic venue while also showcasing incredible local talent. Thanks to sponsors like you, we can:

  • Supplement the costs of bringing in outstanding artists, including more well-known performers
  • Provide professional sound and lighting to enhance the concert experience.
  • Launch exciting new events, such as our first-ever Ross Farm Jazz Fest in May, featuring rising young musicians from across the region.
  • Your sponsorship also supports our broader mission! In addition to live music, the Friends of the Boudinot-Southard-Ross Estate, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, hosts cultural, historical, and educational programs. Our North Pole on North Maple Holiday Lights Drive-Through has become a beloved seasonal tradition, and our Boudinot’s Giving Garden, maintained by dedicated volunteers, donated nearly 5,000 pounds of fresh produce and honey to local food pantries, soup kitchens, and the VA’s Community Hope in 2024.

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Checks should be made payable to FoBSR and mailed to Nola Hansen, 47 E. Oak St., Basking Ridge, NJ 07920. Call Nola at 973-650-6458 with any questions or to pick up this form & check. If you would like to contribute goods or services instead of a monetary donation, please get in touch with us so we can work together.

The Ross Farm: Estate History

by | Jun 7, 2025 | History

Several prominent families have lived on this property, which many locals still refer to as “The Ross Farm.” However, the man who purchased the land and built a home here may be one of the least-known of our nation’s Founding Fathers.

Elias Boudinot was born on May 2, 1740 in Philadelphia, in a time when he would be in the company of some of the men who would make history. Benjamin Franklin was one of his neighbors in Philadelphia, and when Boudinot was a young man, Richard Stockton took him under his wing and helped him establish a law practice in New Jersey. Stockton was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. Boudinot married Stockton’s sister, Hannah, in 1762. Elias’s sister, Annis Boudinot, in turn married Stockton that same year. The Boudinots lived in Elizabeth, at Boxwood Hall, where they entertained, among others, Alexander Hamilton. He purchased approximately 100 acres of land in Basking Ridge in 1771 and 1772 from Edward Lewis, but would remain in Elizabeth for a while longer. Boudinot served on New Jersey’s first Committee on Correspondence, formed in 1774, tasked with contacting the legislatures of each colony so that they could join Virginia and offer concerted opposition toward British encroachments. In August 1775, Boudinot secretly rounded up and sent to General George Washington desperately needed supplies of gunpowder. A year later, he served as an aide-de-camp to Brigadier General William Livingston, who became the state’s first governor elected under the new state constitution. In 1777, Boudinot was commissioned Commissary General of Prisoners by the Continental Congress.

The eastern shore of New Jersey was proving too close to British and Tory action, so Boudinot and his wife moved west to their newly built Basking Ridge home in July 1777. Months later, in November, Boudinot was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress and later served as its President in 1783. During his Presidency, the Treaty of Paris was negotiated and finalized in its final form, although it was not signed until after his term had ended. “His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States…to be free, sovereign, and independent states.” Elias Boudinot was the Chief Officer of the United States at the moment its independence was first acknowledged! President Washington appointed Boudinot the Third Director of the US Mint in 1795, where he served until 1805. Boudinot returned to Elizabeth in 1784, selling the property to Henry Southard in 1785. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1789 and moved to Burlington, New Jersey, in 1805. He was the founding President of the American Bible Society in 1816, and died five years later, on October 24, 1821.

1823 – President James Monroe discusses with his advisors the policy later known as the Monroe Doctrine. From left to right, they are Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford, Attorney General William Wirt, President Monroe (standing), Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Secretary of the Navy Samuel Southard, and Postmaster General John McLean. (Courtesy www.usdiplomacy.org)

Henry Southard moved to Basking Ridge in 1755, where he attended the common schools and worked on a farm. He served as a Private and later as a Wagon Master during the Revolutionary War. Southard was a Justice of the Peace (1787-1792) and a member of the NJ General Assembly (1797-1799, and again in 1811). He was elected as a Republican to Congress for five terms from March 4, 1801 to March 3, 1811, and acted as chairman on the “Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business” (11th Congress); elected to the 14th, 15th and 16th Congresses (March 4, 1815-March 3, 1821). Southard returned to farming and died in Basking Ridge on May 22, 1842. His name is listed on a plaque that bears the names of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the Basing Ridge Presbyterian Church graveyard. Additionally, the destroyer “USS Southard” is named in his honor, as is the public park just down the street from the estate in Basking Ridge. Two years after Henry Southard purchased the home from Boudinot, his wife gave birth to their son, Samuel, at home on June 9, 1787. Samuel grew to become the 10th Governor of New Jersey (1832), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and a United States Senator, as well as Secretary of the Navy for President James Monroe (1823), Secretary of War (1828), and Secretary of the Treasury (1825).

The east kitchen wing and screen porch were added before 1937, most likely by William D. Bancker, who had purchased theeast-kitchen home in 1919.  When the house was built in the 1770s by Boudinot, it would have been considered a mansion, and a tenant farmer would have actively farmed the fields.  Over the years, as it evolved into a gentleman’s farm, the house underwent remodeling to incorporate modern amenities.

The last name represented in our “Friends of the Boudinot-Southard-Ross Estate” belongs to Edmund Ross. Mr. Ross was a self-employed gentleman farmer and breeder of thoroughbred horses for more than 50 years. In 1952, Ross purchased 37.4 acres of the property from Nathaniel Burgess, the previous owner. Ross was a United States Army Veteran of World War II, a member of the Somerset Hills Country Club, the Essex Hunt Club, and the Morristown Club in New Jersey, as well as the Edgartown Yacht Club, the Edgartown Golf Club, and the Edgartown Reading Room on Martha’s Vineyard, where he had been a summer resident since his childhood. He had three sons, E. Burke Ross, Jr., Amory L. Ross, and Benson T. Ross; and two daughters, Parthenia R. Kiersted and Robin Ross, who predeceased him in 1989. Ross was the final owner of the property, which was conveyed to his children upon his death in January 2005. To honor their father’s wish to preserve the land and house, the Ross children sold the property to the Somerset County Park Commission in late 2005, which would be preserved as open space in perpetuity. Somerset County acquired the property, which had been expanded to 61 acres, for $6.79 million. The home was placed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on September 11, 2009, and on the National Register on December 18, 2009.