Genevieve Courbois

Greenwood Gardens

Greenwood Gardens is a 22-acre garden estate located twenty miles west of New York City in Short Hills, NJ. Since the early twentieth century, its formal Italianate gardens, graced with colorful Arts and Crafts tiles, mossy-pebbled walks and vistas, have been privately held. As a newly-opened public garden, Greenwood is dedicated to preserving its gardens, architecture and landscape for the education and benefit of the general public. After years of neglect, careful and dedicated preservation work is focused on restoring the estates former vitality, and features partially hidden beneath chipping stucco and overgrown vegetation are slowly being revealed. Greenwood Gardens is beginning a multi-phased $15 million campaign to raise funds for the restoration and, in turn, accommodate increased visitation at the site. Greenwood offers public tours, educational programming, special events (photographic shoots), family events, and membership and volunteer programs.

As an intern, I served as the Preservation and Program Manager which entailed assisting with the public historic site tour program, intern supervision, volunteer development and management, special event programming, database and membership management, human resources tasks, and community outreach and communications. My primary project was designing, editing and mailing the organization’s first newsletter as well as an accompanying membership envelope. Greenwood Gardens offers a unique environment in which to become fully involved in all aspects of managing a non-profit organization while gaining an incredible appreciation for the restoration and preservation of the historic landscape and its associated resources. It has a “sense of place” that is utterly indescribable and completely enchanting.