Pigeon River Garden Club

Celebrate beauty, education, health benefits of public and private  horticulture in Haywood County.

What We Do

Pigeon River Garden Club is dedicated to making a lasting impact. While our efforts are driven by our organization’s focus, we spread a wide net by investing in a variety of programs.

  • Beautification

  • Education

  • Food Security

  • Community Outreach

Pigeon River
Community Orchard

Selected As One Of The Top Ten Success Stories Of 2023 By The Mountaineer Newspaper

The Canton Recreation Park has a new crown jewel.  The Pigeon River Garden Club transformed a portion of the park closest to downtown into a botanical oasis.  

The community orchard and garden includes fruit orchard trees, vegetable and flower gardens, a bird sanctuary, a sensory garden, an outdoor classroom, a story walk, and a pavilion.  It is located on a previously empty area of the rec park behind Riverview Farm and Garden.

​The garden club members worked with downtown merchants, the Cruso Endowment, the county library, Canton Middle School, the town council and others as they slowly turned the area into a place of beauty and joy.

​The community will be welcome to take whatever fruit and vegetables they need when the garden is in full swing next year, and the pavilion area will be available for use by nonprofits, school groups or others in search of a riverside outdoor learning area.

--The Mountaineer, December 30th, 2023 

About Us

Creating interest in, and support of beautification, education, and health benefits of public and private horticulture, and conservation of our natural resources in Haywood County and the Towns of Canton, Bethel, Clyde, and Cruso; and cooperating as a group and as individuals with other agencies furthering the interest of horticulture and conservation.​

The Pigeon River Garden Club is a public service organization organized in 2020.  The club became a 501c3 non profit in 2021.  Our mission is to provide civic beautification, horticulture education and food security programs for our neighbors in Haywood County, NC.  We are all volunteers and we partner with other non profits, businesses, education and government organizations on projects that promote these goals.  We also engage in numerous community activities as part of our outreach program.  

We began with six founding members and we took on beautification projects in the Canton area.  We've since grown to over 30 members and we've completed over a dozen major projects.  Our largest project to date is the creation of the Pigeon River Orchard and Public Gardens in Canton.  All of our projects have been supported by generous donations from donors such as the Cruso Endowment, Kiwanis of Waynesville and local businesses, as well as the ongoing fundraising activities of our members.

We welcome anyone who is interested in joining our club, supporting our projects, or proposing new projects to contact us on this website.  You can also email us at pigeonrivergardenclub@gmail.com.

​While there is always more that can be done, there is no doubt that we are making a significant impact. We don’t measure our success through just facts and figures, but through happy faces and heartwarming feedback. See how you can become part of the difference.

President

Michael Yates

Treasurer

Marty Yates

Member-At-Large

Sue Beard

Meet the team

Vice President

Allison Sullivan

Secretary

Amanda Fowler

Wanna donate to our cause?

All of our work and projects are funded through fundraisers, grants, and donations from people in the community.  If you would like to donate to our cause, you can contact us or donate through our Venmo.

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