Friday, April 27, 2012

Vallejo Garden Tour 2012: New Beginnings


      “New Beginnings” is the theme for the ninth annual Vallejo Garden Tour scheduled for Sunday, May 20th from 10:00 to 3:00.  Garden Tour organ- izers are highlighting the theme of rejuvenation and raising awareness about Vallejo’s “New Beginnings” after the past few difficult and challenging years.  Focusing on the future, positive growth, and a fresh start, the gardens on this year’s Tour are truly exceptional. 
      Tour participants will be inspired by gardens   that bloom year- round, and by an 1800 square    foot “deck garden” that grows so much food using built-in planters and garden pots that the family    has to freeze, can,  or give away many of their vegetables.  Another garden is set in Vallejo’s old downtown and features two separate grassy areas that look real but are actually environmentally reinvented faux grass secured with shredded tires!  Yet another garden began life as solid concrete.  The gardener got tired of amending the clay soil and producing bonsai plants so they built raised garden beds and now every year their garden produces food for the entire neighborhood!  Or you may find yourself at the garden on the hill with Tahoe rock and a tiered deck that includes carefully placed “doggie” areas for two French Bulldogs who make themselves at home under the canopies next to the hot tub!  There is something on this year’s Tour for everyone.  Purchase your tickets early because the Tour is sure to be a sell out. 
       The Vallejo Garden Tour is the largest annual fundraiser to benefit the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.  Advance tickets are $30 for the general public and $25 for Museum members.  All tickets on the day of the Tour are $35. A buffet luncheon is part of the price of admission and is served from 11:30 to 2:30 at the Museum.  While waiting to be seated at the luncheon, Tour guests and the general public can stroll through the nearly 30 + vendors who will be set up in a Garden Faire along the street in front of the Museum selling their wares. 
        Tickets may be purchased at Zoey June Gift and Garden, 1426 Tennessee Street, the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin St., Mid-City Nursery, 3635 Broadway in American Canyon, and at the Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau, located at the Vallejo Ferry Terminal.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Vallejo's Last Civil War Veteran Dies

On this day in 1939 the last Civil War veteran living in Vallejo passed away at age 92. This is how the Vallejo Evening Chronicle reported the story:

   "Vallejo's last remaining veteran of the Civil War - Nelson W. Brown, 92 - succumbed to a short illness today at the Vallejo General Hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment for the last week.
   "A native of Mansfield, Penn., Mr. Brown had made his home in Vallejo for years, and took an active part in fraternal affairs. He was the husband of the late Julia W. Brown, the father of Mrs. J.S. Jewett of Carson City, Nev., and the grandfather of Mrs. Juanita M. Nichols of Tremontan, Utah, and Mrs. May Harlan of Van Nuys, Calif.
   "He was a past noble grand of the Odd fellows, No. 7, of Seattle, Wash.; a member of the silver star chapter, No. 3, O.E.S., of Porter Post, No. 169, of Oakland, and of the G.A.R. No. 30.
   Funeral Services will be conducted at 11 o'clock Friday morning at the J.J. McDonald Mortuary by Henry W. Lawton Camp, No. 1, United Spanish War Veterans, assisted by Rev. Charles G. Zierk of the Methodist Church. Interment will be made in the Presidio National Cemetery in San Francisco.
   "Brown was born in Mansfield, Tioga County, in the north central part of Pennsylvania, on March 4, 1847. His parents were farmers.
   "When the war broke out, he enlisted with his brothers in the Union army, giving his age as 18 although he says he did not look it. He really was only 16 but at the moment recruiting officers were not so particular as he remembers.
   "He was assigned to the same company as an older brother, Company E of the Fifth New York Heavy Artillery, serving with the First Brigade of the Second Division in Virginia throughout the war.
                      
      In Harper Battle

    "He saw action at Harper's battle and saw 26 of his comrades  shot down by Confederate bullets.
    "During the first days of the war one of his brothers died from poisoning in a plot which was laid to a Union colonel charged with placing calomel in his men's meat.
   "Brown was mustered out in June, 1865, at Harper's ferry, receiving an honorable discharge. Later he came to California, moving to Vallejo in 1900, where he entered the sheet metal shop at Mare Island navy yard. He was retired May 28, 1913.
    "From 1913 to1915, he moved to Oakland, where he was married and later separated.
    "He was a member of D.D. Porter Post, No. 169 G.A.R. in Oakland, and an honorary member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars.