(Updated: A previous version of this story had the Scout Troop number listed as 4448.)

SALISBURY — Restoration work and planting is taking place at the Utzman-Chambers House Memorial Garden thanks to Sonya Rhoades, who has taken on this task for her Eagle Scout project.

A senior at Gray Stone Day School in Misenheimer, Sonya is the daughter of Alan and Prachee Rhoades and is a member of Scout Troop 448, which meets at The Jack Kepley Scout Building on South Main Street.

Sonya will be the first girl in her troop, which has about seven other girls in it, to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, which, she said “is quite a big deal.” 

And especially so because “I will be the first girl in my troop to accomplish this great honor,” she continued.

Sonya told how, as a kid, she followed her brother around in Cub and Boy scouts and “was ecstatic” when she got the opportunity to be a part of this troop back in February 2019 when girls joined BSA.

“I was so happy, and to be honest, if girls weren’t a part of scouts, I would have joined Venturing immediately when I turned 14,” she said

Sonya’s mom, who serves as the scoutmaster of this girls’ troop, shared that she likewise feels honored.

“The first Eagle will be my own daughter, so that kind of makes me feel proud,” she said.

While working on this project, Sonya shared that she learned how difficult it was managing her time completing her Eagle project along with doing school work, athletics and participating in her other hobbies, but with her at the helm, the project has moved forward with lots of work accomplished.

Sonya and her group of 20 helpers, which has included adults, scouts and friends, have visited the garden site on multiple occasions putting in thus far 180.5 hours clearing lots of weeds and ivy, tilling the garden area and preparing the dirt for planting as she said they plan on planting a lot of historical and Colonial plants.

Many of the gardens during the Colonial period had a lot of herbs in them and grew fruit trees, Sonya shared.

Her mom added that “many gardens at the time were very usable gardens.”

In addition to cleaning up the area, the group did some brick work, adding several pathways to the garden and including some trim work around each of the beds, Sonya noted.

This project has special meaning to her because of its being “very architecture based” as Sonya pointed out this is the career she wants to pursue in the future.

“You have to do drawings and plans to lay out the garden,” she added. “Later on, I am going to do a ton of drawings of this garden, details and also architectural drawings.”

While work has been ongoing, additional details will have to take place later as they do more planting next weekend she noted and in future months as Prachee said that bulbs would be planted during the winter so they can come up in the spring.

“A lot of the flowers are not available at this moment, so the garden will look a little sparse right now, but come spring, it will look quite amazing,” she said.

She added a “special thanks” to Godley’s Garden Center & Nursery in Salisbury “for all their help and giving the scouts a discount.”