Winslow Farm Conservancy
Location Hammonton, New Jersey, USA | Client Henry McNeil | Size 600 acres | Status Completed 1996 | Tags Parks and Civic Spaces, Culture and Art, Climate Change
MSP’s design unites ecology, agriculture and reclamation, in an imaginative transformation of a formerly desolate landscape.
The unpromising 600-acre site in the New Jersey Pine Barrens contained a 75-acre abandoned clay quarry surrounded by dense pine forests. The challenge was to reclaim the polluted quarry for a wildlife habitat, to create open fields for organic farming, to design a retreat for artists, and to create a training ground for the owner’s champion Labrador field dogs. We worked closely with the client, contractors and ecologists to meet these seemingly conflicting aims within a surprising and sustainable new landscape.
The design combines nature, agriculture and art, mixing formal garden elements with the natural landscape.
MSP started by selectively clearing the pine trees to provide areas for organic agriculture. The site was graded to enable sculpted forms within the rolling landscape. The clay was mixed with wood from the felled pines, chipped on site, to aerate it so it could support native plant communities.
Thousands of tires, millions of broken bottles, and around 50 cars were removed from the quarry, which was shaped into a series of surreal forms. Around 300 old refrigerators were mixed with slurry and covered with clay soil to form the base of an artificial ridge which overlooks the site. Long rows of evergreen trees, planted in straight corridors, unify the disparate elements of the site, provide vistas and encourage exploration.
The certified organic agricultural fields are designed as a large-scale gardens, with clipped topiary elements bringing a surprising element of the baroque. Sheds and storage buildings have been transformed into gallery spaces and meeting rooms, surrounded by smaller gardens.
Given that there are thousands of such sites in New Jersey, this project offers a template for cultural and ecological regeneration.
“The first time I saw an osprey over the quarry, it was great. Now there are swans in the lake and we have hundreds of wild turkey and quail. The crime rate is way down, the national field [dog] competitions we have here every year fill up the motels and restaurants in the area, and we have preserved over 600 acres of open space that would have otherwise been developed into a subdivision. It is an incredible project because people said it couldn’t be done.”
Henry (Hank) McNeil, Owner
