Museum to hold open house on landscape plans

The public is invited Sunday, September 9, to visit the Birmingham Museum to view master landscape concept plans for the museum grounds and to hear a presentation from historic landscape architect Brian Devlin. The Birmingham Museum is located at 556 W. Maple Road in Birmingham. Devlin will discuss the master landscape concept plan with the Birmingham Museum Board and the public is invited to browse the grounds and view the plans from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. As part of the open house, visitors can see plans for four distinct landscape zones on the four-acre site, and discuss them with board members and Devlin. “This project includes several elements, ranging from historic preservation to outdoor conservation of the museum park that are vital to community health,” said Devlin, noting that the Rouge River ecosystem of the park provides an interconnected network throughout the city. The museum board is looking to develop partnerships in order to fund the landscaping project, and has produced a booklet, “Birds, Bees, Ponds, & Wetlands: Preserving and Interpreting the Birmingham Museum's Historic Landscape,” which summarizes the landscape master plan's objectives and the site's heritage. The museum will be open during the outdoor event. Visitors are invited to check out the current crowd-sourced bicentennial exhibit, “The People of Birmingham: 200 Years of Stories.”