Nature Through Books
From our Lead Park Angel English Drews
What do parks and books have in common? They bring people together. They build connections and they build communities. So, it’s no surprise that when a few Park Angels started sharing books, an organic book club began to grow. The first book was *The Indigo Girl* and it sparked a conversation, a connection.
Neves Richards, Volunteer Director with the Conservancy, had the idea that reading and sharing books about nature with our Park Angels could help strengthen our community. Volunteers offered up a few books while gardening in the park one day and, within a week, the Park Angel Book Club was formed. There were fiction and non-fiction to choose from. The Angel favorite, read in record time by many on the book selection team, and the first book selected for the Park Angel Book club, is *The Indigo Girl*.
As supporters of the Charleston Parks Conservancy, Park Angels help our community connect with our parks. There are many ways to get involved and become a Park Angel: gardening in a park or community garden, serving as an ambassador at community events, and yes, even by simply donating. The Park Angel Book Club is another way to get involved in our park community. What better place to read a book and connect with nature than in one of our local parks?
Park Angel Book Club members will read a couple of books a year and build events and programs around those books. *The Indigo Girl* by Natasha Boyd is a beautiful, inspiring book about Eliza Lucas Pinckney and her trials and tribulations while growing indigo in the 1700s. This historical fiction brings together our Charleston history, culture and nature and shows us a young girl’s commitment and dedication to her community.
The Charleston Parks Conservancy has several events planned in March to highlight *The Indigo Girl*, including a talk by the author, Natasha Boyd. There also will be a customized tour by a local guide to highlight some of the historic sites included in the book and demonstrations on growing and using indigo. We even look forward to growing our own indigo in our community gardens.
We encourage you to get the book, enjoy it and then join us! To participate in these events and to learn more about the Park Angel Book Club, please sign up here.
By reading and sharing books about nature, we want to bring nature and books to life.
We hope you’ll join us as we build better connections and communities through our parks.
*The Indigo Girl is available at local bookstores such as Buxton Books or Blue Bicycle Books.*
*English is a Lead Park Angel and a Charleston native. She took a break from career to renovate the historical family home her great-grandparents built. That adventure led to the creation of her blog, RenovatingCharleston.com, which led to her pursuit of finding and sharing the stories of our ancestors. Her days are filled with gardening, poring over historical documents, and finding ways to tell and preserve the stories of our past.*