INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — It is almost unimaginable that not too long ago the horticultural marvel that is now McKee Botanical Garden was on the brink of obliteration.
The former 80-acre McKee Jungle Gardens created by Arthur McKee and Waldo Sexton, which once drew world-wide visitors, closed its famed gates in 1976, and all but 18 acres was sold off and converted into a condominium development.
The final acreage was slated for the same fate until 1994, when a group of residents banded together to preserve the irreplaceable slice of Florida history.
Now Marion de Vogel, a board member and great-granddaughter of Arthur McKee, is on a mission to capture the memories of those responsible for its resurgence with an archival video history. She got the idea after hearing a comment by Toni Robinson, who was remembering back to the urgency of the garden’s rescue.
“She said something to the effect that there was a yellow ribbon around the old cypress tree, but that it didn’t mean anything about bringing home the troops – it meant that the tree was going to be the first thing to get bulldozed,” said de Vogel. “I thought, we’ve got to capture these stories. At McKee’s final moments, it was these people who saved it. I’m very interested in the historical portion of course, but there are so many other chapters to this story. There are so many wonderful stories.”
De Vogel flew down from her home in Millbrook, N.Y., to interview the first six, Lala Maresi, Dick Paull, Betsy Callahan, Lella Miller, Toni Robinson and Susan Schuyler Smith, in what she envisions as an ongoing process.
Her initial focus is on members of the “Saturday Morning Gang,” a tireless group of volunteers who worked side by side to restore the Garden to its former glory.
Smith shared her memories with de Vogel while sitting in the shade of bamboo clusters quivering in the breeze.
Smith credited Suzan Phillips, one of the garden’s most dedicated champions with her initial introduction to McKee in 1993. The acreage was entirely overgrown, with barely passable paths and bits and pieces of its once glorious past choked by vines, but still it captured her heart.
“I came down here and I never left. It was magical,” said Smith.
After prior attempts to rescue the property were unsuccessful, the turning point came with support from the Indian River Land Trust and from Vero newcomers, who recognized its significance.
“I think people around here thought McKee would always be here. It had always been here; it would always be here. But out of towners couldn’t believe we were going to lose this piece of history. It is the miracle of McKee that it did get saved.”
John’s Island residents were some of the largest funders, because, Smith said, “They could see what this could become for the community.”
After the 1995 purchase of the property for $1.7 million, the sweat equity work began, primarily by the Saturday Morning Gang, where Smith said, “Friendships were made that have lasted a lifetime.”
She recalled volunteers using rudimentary gardening tools to hack and haul out quantities of overgrowth, including the ubiquitous potato vines.
“Looking back I don’t know how we did it, but it was fun,” said Smith. “There was no way I was going to let this go.”
Smith and de Vogel were in complete agreement that the spirits of the founders and other enthusiasts who have since passed away continue to watch over the Garden.
“It’s a very spiritual place,” said de Vogel. “It touches more than your eyes; it touches all the senses.”
