The Covid-19 pandemic may have stalled capital projects at many museums, historic sites, and parks—but not at the Jay Estate. This summer JHC broke ground on a major garden project designed by renowned landscape architect Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz that will continue the reclamation and restoration of the site's historic landscape for public use. The project—which was based on years of consensus building with the community and informed by a trove of period photos, drawings, and other documentation—gives context to the stories of the land’s diverse inhabitants going back thousands of years.

Weed-filled sunken garden room with abandoned swimming pool (before)

Sensory garden and reflecting pool slated for fall completion

Beds for pollinator plants being laid out at the Jay Estate this week

Finished room will have an array of plants and grasses selected to attract birds and pollinators, together with a 100-foot-long arbor trained with roses

The Jay Heritage Center (JHC) is thrilled to acknowledge a major gift of more than $20,000 from Fred Alger Management, LLC, an investment management firm based in Manhattan, to help support JHC’s educational programming in social justice and racial equality.

“We believe that we can all be part of a better America by doing what each of us can to embrace and encourage racial equality,” said Alger’s CEO and chief investment officer, Dan Chung. Alger was introduced to JHC by Brad Neuman, Alger’s senior vice president and director of market strategy, who joined the JHC board in March 2020.

Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Hemingses of Monticello," discussed her book "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs" with co-author Peter Onuf at a book talk at JHC in 2016. More on the program, which also featured renowned Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer here, and click below to watch the video of the event.

Critically acclaimed historian Ian Toll will discuss the final volume in his epic trilogy of World War II naval history, "Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945." Nathaniel Philbrick calls the book "an epic masterpiece of military history," and Publishers Weekly adds: "Written with flair and chock-full of stories both familiar and fresh, this monumental history fires on all cylinders."

Jay Heritage Center at the

That blue haze in large drifts behind the mansion is a native plant, little bluestem grass, planted by Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, taking hold in the Jay meadow.