Friends Thank Heritage Herb Gardener Janet Summy

​The Friends of the Log Cabins wish to express their gratitude to Janet Summy for her many years of volunteer work in tending the Herb Garden in the Log Cabin Village.
Janet created stakes with labels to help visitors distinguish between herbs and even created a video segment on the Herb Garden for the

 virtual tour during the COVID pandemic. When someone was needed to be a Historical Interpreter in the 1835 D.D. Hull Cabin, Janet volunteered to speak about the herbs used in Pioneer times, on various Frontier Settlement Days, and other historical timelines. The Friends also want to thank Alesa Spangler (and her husband) as Alesa was the first one to care for the Herb Garden and had a display at Frontier Settlement Day.
However, Janet has now decided to step down, and the Friends are looking for a replacement to tend the Herb Garden, label the herbs, and inform visitors about the herbs, and how they were used by early pioneers to the Quincy area. If you are interested, please contact the Friends at [email protected].
In addition, the Friends are also looking for a volunteer group to harvest and weave saplings around the Herb Garden. A "waddle" fence is designed to keep critters out without the use of nails, which was scarce in pioneer times. The Herb Garden fence needs restructuring, and any group can volunteer, as we have had church groups, scout troops, and individual volunteers step up in the past. The fence is made up of young saplings cut from the nearby forests, and while the saplings are still "green and fresh," they can be bent and weaved around wooden posts that surround the Herb Garden. No nails are used in the construction of this fence. This "waddle" fence is a replica of what is used to keep chickens in, as you can view if you ever have a chance to visit President George Washington's farm in Virginia. The rail fence on the left side of the village is also a replica of what was used in pioneer times.
The Friends of the Log Cabins Association volunteers have been working for over 15 years to save, restore, preserve, and promote the utilization of this 1800’s Lincoln-era Log Cabin Village located in Quincy, IL. Quincy is fortunate to have this village in a public park on Quinsippi Island, where it is free to view anytime from dawn to dusk when the park is open. If you haven’t visited for a while, you have missed a lot.

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