Chester Townscape

Chester Townscape (CT) is an all-volunteer organization that works to enhance Chester’s appearance and cultural vitality for its residents, businesses, and visitors.

Chester Townscape’s major past projects – often in partnership with the Town of Chester – include restoration of the historic Hearse House and the granite Public Tomb at the entrance to Brookside Cemetery in the center of town; landscaping in front of the nearby Information Booth, at the entrance to the swinging bridge at the Pocket Park at the end of School Street, and at the Chester-Andover Family Center; tree care on the Village Green; and creation of CT's two different walking tour maps that feature the central village Main Street area and the Stone Village/Depot area. Those brochures showcase the town’s historic and architectural features for the enjoyment and education of residents and visitors and are provided free to the public. Other CT projects include installation of “street furniture,” such as the wrought-iron handrail at the Village Green’s gazebo to complement Townscape’s improved landscaping there and the installation – with additional financial support from friends and placement help from Terrigenous Landscape Architecture – of memorial benches to honor two long-time Townscape volunteers.

Annually Chester Townscape supports Christmas lights on the Village Green and provides seasonal displays at the Chester-Andover Family Center and at prominent public locations around town. A golden burst of daffodils at the Brookside Cemetery wall welcomes each spring, followed by other bulbs and annuals all summer long. Pots and barrels filled with flowers brighten the summer months. Pumpkins and autumnal plantings follow in the fall, and then are replaced by evergreen wreaths and other greenery with red berries to enliven the winter months. These decorations welcome all to Chester and illustrate the community’s pride in its handsome architecture and the positive energy that abounds in town.

Volunteer and professional support for these projects is encouraged and appreciated. Please let CT know how you would like to get involved. There are many opportunities to help Townscape that can fit your interests and busy schedule. In addition, Chester Townscape is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so donations are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by law. Contributions may be mailed to CT at PO Box 561, Chester, VT 05143.

For information, please contact Lynn Russell at 802-875-2707, or [email protected].

Please push play or click through the pictures above to view some of the projects initiated by Chester Townscape to make Chester a more beautiful and appealing place to live, shop, and visit.

2025 Tree and Shrub Sale

Deadline for order and payment extended to April 16

Spring is officially here, and Chester Townscape’s 2025 Tree and Shrub Sale has begun! This annual event offers good-size, proven trees and shrubs at below regular, nursery retail prices to help people beautify their properties. Below are the six selections offered this year, but hurry, because orders must be made and paid for before April 9.
1. Snow Showers Weeping Cherry Tree (Prunus x ‘Pishnshzam’);
2. Firelight Tidbit Hydrangea (Hydrangea Paniculata);
3. Spice Baby Korean Viburnum (Viburnum carlesii);
4. Oso Easy Ice Bay Rose (White Rosea Bozmillwin);
5. Sunny Boulevard St. John’s-wort (Hypericum x ‘Deppe’);
6. Potentilla Happy Face Orange (Potentilla fruticosa).

All specimens are low maintenance, hardy, and feature multi-season interest. Most are native and sport beautiful blossoms. All appeal to pollinators and/or birds. Any one of these plants would also make a wonderful present for Mother’s or Father’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, housewarming celebrations or other special events. Proceeds from the sale support Chester Townscape’s charitable civic projects, such as the floral pots and bridge boxes that beautify the town for residents and visitors.

Buyers do not have to be Chester residents; but they do have to preorder and pay before April 9 and then pick up the plants, likely in early to mid May, from Main Street in central Chester. The colorful, informative order form that gives details about the plants, their prices, and where to send the check and order form may be accessed here. For additional information, contact Lillian Willis at 802-875-1340 or [email protected].

Chester Townscape's Fall Bulb Sale 2025

Pre-Order Chester Townscape Spring Bulbs or Purchase at Chester’s Fall Festival

On September 20 and 21 Chester Townscape will sell spring-flowering bulbs at Chester’s Fall Festival. Look for CT’s tall wooden trailer at the west end of the Village Green. All bulbs are top quality, hardy, easy care, and expected to return year after year when grown in full or part sun in a well-drained location. Shipped straight from Holland, this year’s bulbs include two kinds of daffodils and tulips, as well as ever-popular Purple Sensation Allium. Five bulbs cost $5 or buy a baker’s dozen (13) for $20, either by cash and carry at the Festival or by pre-order. Download the descriptive 2025 Bulb Order Form here.

Pre-ordered bulb pick-up and Festival purchases will run from 9 AM–5 PM on Saturday September 20 and from 9 AM-4 PM on Sunday September 21, rain or shine. To pre-order, mail the completed form and check made out to CT (with CT Bulbs in the memo line) to Chester Townscape, PO Box 561, Chester, VT 05143, before September 13 to receive email confirmation to bring, along with a copy of your completed form, to pick-up. For additional information or for those who must make alternative pick-up arrangements, contact Polly Montgomery at 802-875-5446 or [email protected].

At the Festival, Townscape will also raffle two attractive wooden planters created by woodworker Stu Stocker and offer maps of Chester by well-known local artist Lew Watters. The maps are ready for framing and would make excellent gifts at $10 each. Also available will be CT’s free brochures for the Main Street and the Stone Village/Depot walking tours. All sales support Chester Townscape's seasonal floral displays at public places around town. Chester Townscape is a tax-exempt volunteer organization.

Memorial Bench
This granite bench – generously designed, fashioned, and installed by landscape architect and mason Scott Wunderle, with help from his son Tuck and Town workers on June 2, 2020 – was a gift to the town by Chester Townscape, the Town, and individual donors in memory of Suzy Henry Forlie – a lifelong Chester resident, businesswoman, and Townscape Co-Chair of the Hearse House Committee. It is located beside the Public Tomb, directly opposite the door to the Hearse House Museum and adjacent to the entrance to the Brookside Cemetery, to offer a quiet place for rest and contemplation.

Hearse House Renovation and Museum
The complete renovation of the Hearse House, and nearby cast-iron green fence, took place in summer 2016 and was funded by Chester Townscape, grants, and private contributions. The structure of the historic building was repaired, righted, and renovated; the exterior painted; and a reinforced concrete floor laid. In September 2016 the Town’s horse-drawn hearse was moved into its reincarnated home. An educational foyer featuring facts about the building, hearse, and funeral customs was constructed, and the unique, seasonal museum was opened to the public on October 28, 2017. The museum is open in good weather for self-guided tours Memorial Day through Columbus Day. For additional information, contact Lillian Willis at 802-875-1340 or [email protected].

Public Plantings
Four times a year – spring, summer, fall, and winter – Chester Townscape enhances Chester’s landscape in prominent public locations with flowers and other natural decorations. Townscape members weed, fertilize, and care for various Town areas and water – with help from other town residents – plants all summer long to keep Chester beautiful and welcoming to residents and visitors. Besides providing planters at public locations, Townscape has a program that provides planted pots to individuals and businesses that purchase them. This program gives Chester an attractive, coordinated appearance that symbolizes the community’s care for the town.

Memorial Bench
In 2024 a black, powder-coated ductile iron-and-steel bench was installed beside the Hearse House Museum, opposite the Village Green, to honor Barbara Westine for her personal and professional contributions to Chester Townscape’s beautification projects. In the same style as the seating outside the nearby Information Booth, the bench was purchased by Townscape with financial assistance from Westine’s friends and family and then placed by Terrigenous Landscape Architecture on granite slabs, supplied by the Town of Chester, next to the Hearse House Museum. Thus positioned, the bench welcomes every passer-by to the center of town where Barbara Westine was personally involved in the regular planting, tending, and watering of flowers at the Information Booth and the Brookside Cemetery wall.

Two Walking Tours of Chester Historic Villages

To introduce people to Chester’s three original village areas – Central or South Village, the Depot, and the Stone Village – Chester Townscape created two different self-guided walking tours that encourage residents and visitors to travel the town learning about the town’s historic, sometimes unique, architecture and enjoying tidbits of local history and the people who created it through their historic buildings. The brochures are available, free of charge, at many locations around town – including shops, restaurants, and inns, as well as at Town Hall and the Information Center on Main Street. For a digital copy please click the pictures below.

“Take A Walk Along Main Street in Historic Chester Village”
This tour, published in 2015, describes 16 historic buildings in the central village that were typical of life in Chester during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The walk begins opposite the Green at the entrance to the Brookside Cemetery to view the Hearse House – a seasonal museum displaying the Town’s handsome horse-drawn hearse and information about death and funeral customs, and the nearby granite Public Tomb. Both were restoration projects of Chester Townscape, with support from the Town. The tour continues west to Lovers Lane and returns to finish at The Common, Chester's business area across from the Village Green.

“Take A Walk Through Chester Depot to Historic Stone Village”
This tour, published in spring 2022, describes 13 buildings and connects two of the three original villages in Chester. Starting in the Depot at the railroad station, which features distinctive Italianate details, the tour proceeds toward the brick Town Hall at the edge of the Depot Green and then north along Route 103 to view the dual towers of the iconic 1879 Yosemite Firehouse, a future fire museum. The tour continues along the road to the Stone Village’s cluster of nine houses and a church that were built in the 1830s and 1840s by local masons from stone quarried on nearby Mount Flamstead. The distinctive “snecked-ashlar” style of the buildings has long captured the public’s imagination and enticed many a visitor to Chester.