Celery Farm Bench History

the story of the benches as told by Mike Limatola


Celery Farm Bench History
Celery Farm Bench History

There are 17 benches located at the preserve.  Most of them, whether marked or not, are dedicated to the memory of loved ones lost.  They were strategically placed around the trails at the preserve for good reason. 

Back in the summer of 1997, Stiles and I were spreading wood chips at the point when we were approached by a group of disabled WWII veterans who had a few issues with the Celery Farm.  The first was that they were not able to walk around the entire main trail (1.1 miles) without having places to sit and rest along the way.  The other was that they couldn’t climb the rickety ladders attached to the 2 lifeguard type viewing chairs and wanted one of them replaced with a larger ADA compliant observation platform. 

Stiles, a WWII veteran himself, and I took it to heart and talked about what we could do.  Stiles came up with the idea to build benches and place them every 300 to 400 feet around the entire main trail.  I wasn’t sure about building benches and was worried about the aesthetics.  I told Stiles that 2 years earlier, my family purchased a 4-foot teak bench at Rohsler’s for my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. 

We hopped in his Jeep, drove over to Rohsler’s, and as soon as he saw the Westminster teak bench like the one we got for my parents, his mind was made up.  This model became the standard for most of the benches around the preserve. 

There was no funding at the time, so he decided that the benches would be done on a donation basis only.  We also decided that anyone donating a bench would be responsible for its upkeep.  Stiles made up a sign explaining everything about the bench donations, I laminated it and mounted it on the old welcome center at the parking lot.  Stiles put the word out around town, and we told people about the benches at the September Fyke meeting. 

  1. Within a few weeks the Norman family contacted Stiles, purchased a bench from Rohsler’s, and had it delivered to the south end of the Celery Farm.  A local mason and I installed it at the south end, overlooking the lake, the next weekend.  That original bench is still there and in pretty good condition. 

  2. Stiles wanted things to move along so he and Lillian purchased a second bench in early 1998, and we installed it right by the lake, off the south end of the east trail.  The Pena family purchased it from them a few years later. 

  3. That same year someone at the Fox Run condos donated the cast iron bench by the Butterfly Garden. 

  4. The Constantine bench, on the east trail, was installed in 1999 but due to poor quality (they didn’t get it at Rohsler’s) and lack of care, it disintegrated after about 10 years and was replaced with an unnamed bench using Brewster money. 

  5. The Warden’s Watch platform was built in 1999, and a bench was added on the north end of it as part of the project. 

  6. At Stiles’ request, I added a second bench on the east side in 2000. 

  7. I also installed the bench in front of Pirie Platform in 2000. 

  8. My parents purchased my sister’s bench in 2001, and I installed it on the northeast trail. 

  9. At Stiles’ request, Ken Buxton installed the bench in front of the Scout Platform in 2002. 

  10. The Bajor bench was installed on the west trail, next to the stone, in 2003. 

  11. The Lopez bench was installed, overlooking Phair’s Pond, in 2007. 

  12. The Girl Scout bench, on the southwest trail, was built as part of a Silver Award Project, and installed in 2009. 

  13. The Ditmars Bench (no plaque), was installed on the west trail in 2012. 

  14. I’m not sure when the Mignon Bench was installed at the parking lot, but I think it was 2012 also. 

  15. The Ryan Bench was installed near Phair’s Pond in 2016. 

  16. The Strauch Bench was installed by Councilman Strauch, under the Red Buckeye in the Green Way Field, in 2021. 

  17. And the last and final bench to be installed in the preserve was the Ridkus Bench, across from Brotherton Bridge, in 2023. 

We would have liked to construct an ADA compliant platform, even though it was not required by law, but it proved impossible to comply with for many reasons.