1 of 3
Photo by Erin Nelson.
Martha Wurtlee Jones, with the Homewood, Alabama Historical Preservation Society, left, looks on as Amy Weiss, center, caretaker for Miss Sims’ Garden Botanical Park, shows Lynn Luckianow a 1954 photograph of the Sims’ house after the Homewood, Alabama Historical Preservation Society presented Weiss a donation to help with restoration of the house Saturday, April 22, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
2 of 3
Photo by Erin Nelson.
Stacey Morales, left, Nancy Mason, Martha Wurtlee Jones, Amy Weiss, Lynn Luckianow, Holly Kennedy, and Matt Gilpin, pose for a photograph as Weiss is presented a donation from the Homewood, Alabama Historical Preservation Society to help with restoration of the house Saturday, April 22, 2023. Photo by Erin Nelson.
3 of 3
Photo courtesy of the Jefferson County Probate Court records.
A photograph of the Sims’ Garden house, from a tax assessment in 1959, shows an open porch that Amy Weiss, the current caretaker for Miss Sims’ Garden Botanical Park, hopes to restore as part of restoration efforts for the house and garden. Photo courtesy of the Jefferson County Probate Court records.
Miss Sims Garden recently received a $9,644.81 check for Miss Sims Garden Botanical Park from the Homewood Historical Preservation Society.
"In the spirit for which these funds were raised and donated, we will use some of the funds to determine the level of restoration that is possible for the Sims house which includes a front porch (as seen in the photo attached from the 1950 tax assessment), and certain landscape features such as the chert rock walls demarcating the property along Highland Road which were constructed in the 1920s," said the garden's executive director Amy Weis.
Weis said the garden will apply for historical registration at the state and federal level and hope to secure more funds to restore the house so they can convert it to an accessible event space.
Recommendations for historical preservation specialists should contact Weis at (205) 332-0949, she said.
-- Submitted by Amy Weis
