Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Project in Memorial Park

Project Authorization Application approved by the

New Jersey Historic Preservation Office 2020

The Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy, in partnership with the Township of Maplewood, developed a plan to restore plantings at the park’s memorial to the four residents who lost their lives in Vietnam. The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Plan was approved by the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office in 2020. Excerpts from the plan can be read below and the full application can be found HERE.

Since approval, the Township and the Conservancy received a generous grant from the Maplewood Post 10120, VFW to plant along the path and around the memorial. Additional funds came from the Maplewood Garden Club and the Conservancy. In October 2020 Maplewood’s DPW helped clear the grass and plant a tree. Then a group of volunteers planted 52 shrubs and numerous perennials and bulbs. Additional shrubs have been planted to further refine the memorial and replace plants as needed.

On November 11, 2020 (Veteran’s Day) the Township, VFW and Conservancy cut the ribbon to dedicate the newly restored memorial.

Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Plan

This project is a plan in Maplewood Memorial Park to beautify and restore a landscaped seating area dedicated to four residents who lost their lives in the Vietnam war. Maplewood’s Memorial Park is a treasured green space and a historic landmark, being designed in the early twentieth century by the Olmsted Brothers and Brinley and Holbrook, and dedicated to the memory of residents who died in World War I. In the mid-2000s, Todd Lamm, former Maplewood employee and resident and Vietnam vet, wanted to add to this historical dedication by creating a memorial to those residents who died in the Vietnam War. A spot in the pine grove at Baker St. and Valley was chosen, and a landscaped area with a rock and memorial plaque was installed, dedicated in 2011 (See Attachments 1, 2, & 3). In the intervening time, the majority of these plantings have fallen to both disease and site conditions (Attachments 4 & 5). The Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy, with the input and support of Mr. Lamm, would like to restore and enhance this area with sustainable plantings to make it a contemplative and lushly planted place for reflection and enjoyment of the pine grove.

Rutgers landscape architecture interns, under the direction of graduate intern Jennifer Ryan, researched the history and conditions on the site, developed a design and palette of suitable plantings that would restore and enhance the Memorial.

The plan (Attachment 6) encompasses the following goals and considerations:

• Enclose the area sufficiently to give it a sense of place, but keep the long views intact.
• Consider the design concept of the original park when proposing placement of plantings.
• Restore historic intent to partially screen ballfield.
• Choose from plants that relate to the historic planting palette of the original park designs.
• Choose plants that can withstand traffic of people and pets.
• Consider the shady, acidic and wet site conditions when developing a plan.
• Keep in mind climate change and disease when choosing plantings.

To address the issue of traffic and pets, particularly until the plantings are established, the proposal is to protect the perimeter plantings from traffic and frequent dog visitors on the adjacent well-traveled path with a small fence (See Attachment 7). Though not original to the plan, this is a commonly accepted method for limiting access to sensitive plants.

The proposed plants line the path to the memorial stone as in the original plan, but, to increase the relationship to the park’s original picturesque design, and to link the memorial site to adjacent plantings and the pine grove in which the memorial is situated, a larger number of shrubs are proposed than were specified in the 2011 design: A complementary planting of shrubs is proposed on the other side of the pathway in order to serve as screening between the baseball field and the memorial. This would align more closely to the original 1928 Brinley & Holbrook plan for the park, where shrubs were proposed in this location in order to shield the play area for the Ricalton School (Attachments 8 & 9)  

Attachment 10 envisions the proposed design in spring.