Landscape Architect Articles

Sandy Hook Memorial in Connecticut12-07-16 | Department

Sandy Hook Memorial in Connecticut
December 2016 Off the Clock

By Michael Miyamoto, LC/DBM

SouthGate Nurserymen, North Haven, Conn., coordinated a pro bono project to memorialize the 26 children and adults who died in the December 2012 fatal shooting rampage at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. In the photo, SouthGate employees installed a headstone at the site: Luis Rojas (left) and Tino Ojeda are in the foreground; Nick Zacarelli, their supervisor, is in the background. The company is a commercial and residential landscape design, installation and maintenance firm.

A total of 26 Ginkgo biloba Autumn Gold trees, one for each of the victims, were planted in Oyster Shell Park in Norwalk, Conn., alongside the granite headstone that lists the victims' names. The memorial has also been called the Newtown Memorial Tree Park. In a separate project, a playground was also built at the park site in memory of the people who died in the shooting. The site was once a landfill before it was abandoned in 1979, and then transformed into a park after a lengthy master planning process. *Photos: SouthGate Nurserymen*

The deadly shooting on Dec. 14, 2012 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., prompted a group of landscape contractors, growers, wholesale nurseries and a monument company, to establish a memorial for the victims.

Jim Lorusso Jr. and Bob Barone Sr., owners of SouthGate Nurserymen, LLC, North Haven, Conn., spearheaded the project by donating the site work, designing the plans, coordinating all the supplies and vendors, and installing all the trees and a granite monument.

"With the tragedy of an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., a group of community involved professionals wanted to create a living memorial for the 26 children and teachers that lost their lives on that cold December day," the owners said.

The project was completed at Oyster Shell Park in Norwalk, Conn., about 20 miles from Newtown.

Prides Corner Farms, Lebanon, Conn., provided 26 Ginkgo biloba Autumn Gold trees that the nursery company bought at cost.

East Haven Landscape Products, East Haven, Conn., donated the seasonal flowers around the monument for free.

Nolan Monuments, Hamden, Conn., designed, made and then donated the granite monument pro bono.

On that fateful day almost exactly four years ago, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children ages 6 and 7, and six adult school staff members. Lanza also shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home, and then committed suicide.

"The outpouring of materials that eventually made this vision a success was never given a second thought," the owners of the nursery company said. "The completed memorial planting would allow visitors for generations to come to remember these children and adults whose lives were tragically cut short."

The granite memorial is titled "Remembering Newtown," and these words are inscribed underneath it: "We Are Young But Once, Embrace Life, Memories, And Love All Who Surround Us." Below those words are the names of the 26 children and adults who died at Sandy Hook.

"Our hope as parents and dedicated landscape contractors is that these individuals will not be forgotten by the visitors who will enjoy these special trees for generations to come," the company owners said.

As seen in LC/DBM magazine, December 2016.