Eliza Steele Memorial Garden
Location: MacDougal Park, Broadway, Rockland
2024 Garden Dedication Stories
This garden is overseen and maintained by volunteers,
and sustained through donations.
~ We thank you one and all ~
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Garden donations may be made ONLINE
or sent to
RDNA, Eliza Steele Memorial Garden
PO Box 1713, Rockland, ME 04841
Please make checks payable to RDNA, with the memo “Eliza Steele Memorial Garden.”
RDNA, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the garden fiscal agent.
The Eliza Steele Memorial Garden lead gardener is Susan Lewis Baines. For Master Gardener Volunteers, the ESMG is an approved site to earn your volunteer hours.
For more information, e-mail info@rocklanddistrictnursing.org
District nursing, once a ubiquitous concept with nurses in most every region in the state, today is simply unfamiliar to many. Rockland is one of only a handful of communities to still have this asset, a local organization who has proudly served for 90+ years. Eliza Steele, RN, led RDNA from 1929 – 1968, building the agency in partnership with the City of Rockland and other civic leaders. These partnerships endure, and RDNA nurses today serve in the tradition of those who laid the foundation.
On the heels of a November snowstorm, the Eliza Steele Memorial Garden materialized as JBI Construction completed the initial site work at MacDougal Park. This garden honors Rockland’s legendary nurse and founder of the Rockland District Nursing Association (RDNA), remembering the district nursing story and commitment to a healthy community. 
The design by Jason White of Plants Unlimited envisions a welcoming, tranquil, public space, incorporating over 60 varieties (500 plantings) of trees, bushes, perennials and annuals, with textures, smells, and colors evolving through the seasons. For educational purposes, the plant species will be labeled in the garden. The cornerstone is a legacy maple in memory of Eliza Steele, RN. Future opportunities for residents to honor friends and loved ones will be available.
