Kensington: Turning Vacant Lots into Garden Spots

On nearly all of the streets in Kensington, houses are being torn down. Passing by these streets you can tell where the houses used to rest because they are now vacant lots. What you wouldn’t know just by looking at the empty space is some of the residents on these blocks are buying them and creating a healthier and more useful purpose for them.

Denis Hilton is one of these people, and his lot has an interesting flair to it. “I started this about two years ago. I bought the lot and just started making it look nicer. I didn’t want it to be full of trash,” he says.

So many of these lots are indeed full of trash, but there are some that have been transformed into gardens where people can plant just about anything they’d like. Hilton’s garden is full of knick-knacks like small statues of chickens, gnomes and children, to signs he made and put up with the help of his wife Penny that send clear messages to his neighbors.

“All of them say something to people about being a good person or being clean and respectful,” Penny says.

The most important and inspiring part of Hilton’s garden is the wall painted in memoriam to those from the neighborhood that have died. A large “Rest in Peace” sign tops the wall, with names of the deceased written inside painted balloons, which surround a welcoming smiley face.

“We just wanted to remember people from here that lived and worked hard.”

By Catharine Raynor and Matt Price

Group 17, Kensington