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The gardens are wonderful. It will be a great
shame to lose them as envisioned by Doris
Duke. Not only are they a piece of history,
but a unique attraction to Hillsborough,
Somerville and all of Somerset county. It is
hard for me to imagine that the new
"attraction" will come close to the
Duke greenhouses as they exist. To dismember
them is like painting over a Rembrant. The
Somerset County Freeholders should pressure
the Trustees to reconsider their decision to
close the gardens.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I tried to get a reservation for a tour of
the indoor gardens. According to the web
site, all the reservations are taken. I
regret that I did not visit Duke Gardens in
earlier years.
--
Seen in 1-2-3 NJ (post 1 image, leave 2
comments) (?)
Posted 6 months ago.
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It would be a tragedy to lose these
extraordinary gardens!
Posted 6 months ago.
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Use the phone number (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Gardens). The web site booking tool doesn't work.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I've had good success with calling the phone
number when they open at around 8:30 in the
morning. Over the past month we are 2 for 2
in being able to get in.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Thanks for letting people know about this.
Seen in NJ 1-2-3.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Everyone is who hears is very upset. We have
nearly 100 letters from website, with only
word of mouth advertising so far.
Posted 6 months ago.
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This is just such a perfectly conceived gem
of a circuit, can't believe someone would
think "oh let's rip it down and do some
other stuff instead, we can do better than
this." The arrogance!
Posted 6 months ago.
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Even here in the centre of Ireland, the home
of the world-famous Birr Castle Gardens, we
know of AND LOVE the unique Duke Gardens.
They are an unrepeatable and irreplaceable
treasure and MUST BE RETAINED.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I've never seen anything quite like these
gardens ... why do they want to destroy them?
Posted 6 months ago.
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Self-guided, indeed...
Posted 6 months ago.
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I've read many many pages of text from tax
filings to obituaries, and talked to many
people with various connections. All I can
figure is the Trustees live in New York,
Boston, and Washington, and it's not
important to them.
I hear the Trustees are touring the gardens
next week, some of them for the first time.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I'm so glad to see this shot because they
don't even show this map on the Duke Gardens
website and it's a good one! Would make a
great souvenir...
As I toured the incredible gardens
yesterday, I couldn't help but feel an
overwhelming sadness that the product of the
work, dedication and passion of Doris Duke,
is about to be DESTROYED. I am astounded
that the Trustees have chosen to take such a
step while some have not even VISITED them
before!
I was also astounded by the comment from
one of the doscents, who in reply to one of
the visitors, said, "These plants and
flowers are exotics. They are not native to
this area; they don't belong here..."
How boring would it be to visit a zoo, a
museum or a garden with examples of ONLY
what's native to the area? For that, I'll
just walk around outdoors!
Posted 6 months ago.
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I don't understand why they can't "go in
a new direction" with the property and
preserve the Garden at the same time. What a
crime to dismantle the beauty of this place.
It is such a gem in our little corner of NJ.
The hard work of creating the garden and the
TLC of maintaining it for all these years
will be gone just because of a decision made
by people who don't even live here. Do these
people know what they are doing?? I am heart
sick.
Posted 6 months ago.
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viviansb and doodoopuppy, SO RIGHT, take a
look at The Eden Project www.edenproject.com/
On their front page under the Horticulture
heading they list three biomes: the Humid
Tropics, the Warm Temperate, and the Outside.
Two protected biomes full of stuff that
"doesn't belong here" embedded
within a third natural biome. The idea is
that you learn to value all three.
It works. You step out of the exotic and
look at the commonplace with a fresh eye. Oh,
and they heat it by burning grass. Closed
carbon cycle. It CAN be done. And I don't buy
that it can't be done with old glasshouses,
which is the trustees' line: a boiler is a
boiler is a boiler (apologies to Gertrude
Stein). What's the point in becoming a
"beacon" for green technology if
you don't USE it to save things like this?
Posted 6 months ago.
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I agree with doodoopuppy, they should be able
to promote their trails, become an
environmental center but still find a way to
preserve the greenhouse gardens and make them
environmentally friendly.
They obviously don't want to. As to why
they don't want to, you have your answer in
that they don't live nearby. If they had
wonderful memories associated with this
place, these powerful people would not be
doing this. But as long as THEY have
beautiful gardens where they live, why should
they care about this one?
They apparently don't care about Doris
Duke's wishes, either. (Doris, are you doing
somersaults or merely spinning these days?)
Posted 6 months ago.
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@florabritannica: A furnace is a furnace is a
furnace, here in the USA!
Closed carbon cycle heating of the Display
Gardens would bring new technology to New
Jersey, and showcase it.
Posted 6 months ago.
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I've really enjoyed seeing all the photos of
the Display Gardens--what a great place! It's
a real shame they want to dismantle it.
Isn't New Jersey called the Garden State?
Posted 6 months ago.
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Good luck with your campaign to save these
stunning gardens! It is a travesty that the
very people in whose trust these gardens were
left are planning to dismantle them!
Posted 6 months ago.
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Good luck with the campaign. Have you tried
digging it, excuse the unfortunate pun!
Posted 6 months ago.
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Good luck to the Duke Gardens...
Posted 6 months ago.
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I hope we can get in to see the gardens this
weekend. We'll give it a try. This is
really sad - I hope this grassroots (excuse
the pun) effort to save the gardens succeeds!
Please add this beautiful photo to
CITRIT,Best of yours!
Citrit group
Posted 6 months ago.
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I am visiting the gardens tomorrow - made
reservations as soon as I heard about the
closing. Thanks to everyone for making me
aware of the situation.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Please take some photos of the visitor's book
- it is page after page of people saying
"Please don't do this".
I wrote "www.savedukegardens.org"
at the top of my page, and got a very dirty
look from one of the senior management! But I
think it worked... 109 letters so far... Tell
people in the gardens about the website -
print a sheet of slips with the address and
hand them out?
Look forward to seeing your pictures in the
savedukegardens pool!
Posted 6 months ago.
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Nice shot! The eyes tell the whole story.
123 NJ
Posted 6 months ago.
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Don"t stop fighting? There are deeper
motives working here.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Don"t stop fighting? There are deeper
motives working here. Some how the gardens
must be made to support itself by maybe an
entrance fee or sponsored by local
businesses, grants or what ever you can think
of.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Get them made a National Heritage site.
Posted 6 months ago.
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It's not a matter of giving our money to save
them, it's a matter of persuading the
Trustees not to destroy them!
Doris Duke created the gardens herself and
donated them to The Duke Gardens Foundation
in 1960. Gardens are now owned by the Doris
Duke Charitable foundation, which has nearly
$2 billion, (yes that's billion!), in assets.
She left plenty of money to take care of her
work of art.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Awful thing that is happening.
I went to your site and sent letters! I
hope it helps.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Cheers Lori – the more the better. I think
your quote on your own photo of Hansford's
grave is pretty appropriate to what's going
on here too:
Evil is committed without effort,
naturally, fatally; goodness is always the
product of some art
~Charles Baudelaire
Posted 6 months ago.
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Please save the Duke Farms. This place is
gorgeous.
Posted 6 months ago.
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Tell your friends!
Posted 5 months ago.
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On May 2, I told one of the doscents that
closing the gardens made me very sad. She
replied, "If you're sad, imagine how I
feel! Every day I come to work, my heart
breaks a little bit more, knowing that these
gardens are not going to be here soon. I feel
as if I'm providing hospice care to a
terminal patient and at the same time I have
to do my best to make everyone's visit a
pleasant one..." My heart went out to
her... so sad!
Posted 5 months ago.
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Someone just emailed me:
Regarding Miss Duke's Will: I don’t imagine
she felt it necessary at the time to specify
that she would like her visions kept alive
and well for others to appreciate. What the
heck do they think she started the foundation
for? I read her whole Will, thank God she
specified that she wanted her pets to remain
alive or they probably would have put them
down too!
Too true...
Posted 5 months ago.
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One only needs to look a few miles to the
East and a few years into the past to find
another example of "progress". I am
referring to the destruction of the former
majestic Pennsylvania Station in New York
City. I am reminded of a commuter who
commented on the difference between the old
Penn Station and the new one which is buried
under Madison Square Garden. "In the
past when you arrived at Penn Station you
arrived in New York feeling like a king and
now you feel like a rat." Unfortunately,
the destructive act of dismantling Duke
Gardens will be lamented twenty, thirty or
fifty years from now and of course it will be
far too late to do anything about it. I am
sure there will be cheese served at the grand
opening of the new greenhouse.
Posted 5 months ago.
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@jfetzko
I was at both Grand Central and Penn Station
today, as I often am. I don't have to tell
you about the contrast.
We were playing with the vaulted ceiling
outside the Oyster Bar, doing the whispering
thing. A couple was getting wedding photos
taken under the azure constellations.
Then back to Penn, where we sit by the line
for the fragrant and overtasked bathrooms,
and look at the fabulous moving Sculpture (a
really good toy for us rats). When the
platform is called, 2 minutes before
departure, we like to go down the mystery
stairs by the pretzel stand and walk through
the hot, filthy, crazy-wired half-subway
tiled, half-marble tunnel to tracks 1-10.
Gotham.
And as we trudged through there I looked up
at the incredibly ugly low dusty cracked
utility pipe dirty rat-run roof above me, and
thought of what was saved at Grand Central,
and what was destroyed at Penn. It was a
sudden metaphor for the utilitarian mind of
whichever millionaire Trustee is pushing this
soul-less destruction, compared to the
'conspicuous consumption and personal
passion' of Doris Duke.
I think I feel a flickr diptych coming on!
Posted 5 months ago.
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Great picture!
I went to Duke gardens on the last day. It
was really sad to think that I won't see the
gardens again. I don't understand why can't
they keep the gardens. My heart is broken!
Posted 5 months ago.
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I was so sad to find out that Miss Duke's
gardens will be no more. I've seen pictures,
have heard friends and family rave about
them, and have always wanted to see the
actual gardens, thinking I would do this
"someday". After I heard about the
closing I made plans to go with a friend who
has been there many times, but we were too
late! I love horticulture and history, and
the Duke Gardens seem to be - make that
"seem to have been" - the perfect
example of that blend right here in NJ. How
is it that the DuPont family's Longwood
Gardens (PA), the Vanderbilt's Biltmore (NC)
and so many other places in this country that
belonged to the wealthy people of our past
are still being preserved and kept open for
people to experience, but our little piece of
history "costs too much to
maintain"? They're trying to get us to
believe that it's acceptable to destroy what
Miss Duke worked to create and preserve
because the property (I can't call it
"gardens" anymore) will be
"new & improved"?! I'm not
buyin' it! It may be too late but I sent
Corzine an email from the Save Duke Gardens
website anyway. If a protest/rally is
organized and publicized (either at the
estate or in Trenton) I would love to
participate!
Posted 4 months ago.
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It's a sickening disgrace that these gardens
will be destroyed.
Greed knows no bounds.
Posted 2 months ago.
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Gj
Posted 6 weeks ago.
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