Cummer Museum: Where Art Meets Nature

This past week, I visited the Cummer Museum and Gardens to see the “Spirit in the Land” art exhibit before it closed. It was a wonderful exhibit that provoked many thoughts about how we interact with land. As always, I came away from the exhibit feeling very inspired. 

As I was driving home, I thought about the Cummer Museum and how it came to be at its present-day location. When I got home, I did a little research and discovered …

Arthur Gerrish Cummer met fellow student Ninah May Holden at the University of Michigan in the 1890s. They married and moved to Jacksonville to join the family lumber business. The Cummers had a modern sawmill at the mouth of Trout River. They also held large tracts of timber in Baker, Alachua, and Levy counties in Florida. They also owned a phosphate mine in Newberry, Florida. All the properties were connected by a 100-mile-long railroad, constructed by the Cummer family.

The Jacksonville & Southwestern Railroad carried pine, cypress, and oak, as well as phosphate rock, to Jacksonville, where it was shipped from the Cummer docks. At one point, the Cummer holdings had increased to over 500,000 acres in Florida, making them the largest landowner in the state. The Cummer family also owned a box factory and a wood processing plant in Jacksonville.

Arthur and Ninah Cummer built a Tudor Revival house along the banks of the St. Johns River in Riverside. The Cummer family planted informal gardens around a large majestic oak tree, today called the Cummer Oak. Today, their residence is now the campus of the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.

In 1910, the Cummer family hired Philadelphia nurserymen Thomas Meehan and Sons to design and install an English garden along the riverfront. English gardens have a natural layout. They embrace organic shapes that guide visitors to different focal points.

In 1931, Ninah engaged the Olmsted Brothers firm and Ellen Shipman to design a formal Italian garden next to her English garden. The Italian garden included two long reflecting ponds, a semicircle seating area, and mixed herbaceous beds under the shade of the Cummer live oak.

Ninah Cummer looked for plants from regional nurseries and encouraged them to stock varieties suited for Northeast Florida’s climate. She became an “acknowledged leader in Southern gardening in her time,” according to her biography at the CummerMuseum.

Ninah Cummer gave lectures and wrote for publications sharing her enthusiasm for gardening and the lessons she had learned on her estate. Ninah was a founding member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. In 1921, Ninah helped to establish Memorial Park along the waterfront in Riverside.

In 1958, the Cummer Museum and Gardens was established on the site of the Cummer residence. The museum started with 60 pieces of art donated by Ninah. Over the years, the collection has grown to over 5,000 pieces, encompassing 8,000 years of art history. Acquisitions to the collection have been made with the Cummer Council endowments and by community members.

The Cummer live oak continues to grace the Cummer gardens with its 138-foot span. This majestic tree stands 80 feet tall with a circumference of 21 feet at breast height. The Cummer gardens and the live oak were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

The Cummer Museum's mission is to engage and inspire through the arts, gardens, and education. According to their website, they believe that art can unite communities and inspire creativity, sincerity and kindness.

Every visit I make to the Cummer Museum uplifts and inspires me. The spirit of the land on which the Cummer Museum and gardens stand invites us all to connect with each other through art and nature. Plan a visit to the Cummer Museum soon - you will not be disappointed, I promise.