05/18/2026
"Roots of Liberty" Garden Project to Commemorate The Nation's 250th Anniversary:
The Verplanck Garden Club (VGC) of Fishkill will honor the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by creating seven (7) new gardens at important historic locations in Fishkill and Beacon. Featuring red, white and blue flowers, the seven gardens will be anchored by a 5-foot-tall colonial soldier silhouette, crafted of metal. Each soldier is uniquely designed to hold a flag, a musket, or a drum.
The “Roots of Liberty” garden project, is partially funded by the Verplanck Garden Club and by the Town of Fishkill, who will later place the statues in their Garden of Heroes at the Town Hall complex. The soldier silhouettes were manufactured and installed by Robert Van Winkle, a master metalworker and restorer of important statues such as Sybil Luddington, another famous Revolutionary-era heroine.
The soldiers have been installed at the various historical sites selected for the Roots of Liberty project. The Fishkill sites include the First Reformed Church, the Van Wyck Homestead Museum, Trinity Church, the Rombout Rural Cemetery, the Brinkerhoff Inn, the Daniel Nimham statue, and in Beacon, the Madam Brett homestead and Mount Gulian. The flowers will be planted in mid-May.
The image is AI generated and depicts the gardens as they will appear by mid-summer. The red, white and blue combination will be repeated at all the gardens.
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