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When you enter Ponca
City you have had to drop off the Interstate 35 and drive east to to come
into town. The drive through the tank farm which is actually
Conoco-Phillips Oil company is the same as any oil field town where the
refineries are up and running at full tilt. Crude to gasoline and other
by-products are the purpose of these companies.
Turn left on 77
highway going north and this will take you past the local Dixie Dog burger
place. On the right hand in a matter of minutes the beauty of the Cann
Gardens are visible to the driver. The grounds come right up to
fourteenth street but the old restored home of the Cann family is back off
the road about a block.
Each year, like any
garden, the Cann Gardens are becoming more and more beautiful. There are
winding walk ways, archways with climbing vines and such beautiful beds of
blooming flowers. However, the area around the house itself is the most
pleasant. We happened to walk up on a wedding one morning. The sudden
appearance of the small group of people who were so carefully hidden from
the road was unequaled in a delight for the senses. The feeling was one of
reverence and joy. It was altogether soothing to the spirit and a return
to another time of respect for a ceremony as old as any known tradition.
Mr. and Mrs. Cann who
owned the home where the gardens surround it were the benefactors of this
space. The place donated to the city has its own support built in to it by
the arrangement of the Cann family. I know little about the man other
than what my mother has told me. She said he was a wise road commissioner
who paid the farmer or owner of the land to take care of the easement
along the front of his property next to the road. This was a wonderful way
of keeping the shoulders of the road clean and well mown which is
something that doesn't happen today. To think the Canns are still
contributing to this society here even after their death so many years ago
is, indeed, a wonderful thought.
Saturday June 5,
2004 will see another herb festival celebrated on the rolling lawns of the
Cann Gardens here in Ponca. Each booth will be a treat of interesting
lore, useful products tied up with the understanding and learning of so
many different plants. It is not possible to walk past the booths without
coming away much wiser and with a deeper appreciation of something
mystical as well as most beneficial. If we could play music to agree with
the mood it might be, “Are yah goin' to Scarborough Fair? Parsely, Sage,
Rosemary and Thyme. Remember me to one who lives there, for he was a true
love of mine.”
Here is the Url about the gardens:
http://www.onlineshops.com/herbfest/more.htm |
