Pergola Area Closed Briefly for Renovation

The pergola and Terrace Gardens in springtime. Photo by Lori Sullivan.

By Sheon Wilson

Visitors seeking to see Duke Gardens’ iconic pergola will need to do so from a distance for the next few days.

Crews are cleaning the pergola’s metal surface to remove corrosion that could endanger the structure. Restoration began today and is expected to be completed by Friday. The pergola is closed during the restoration, along with the upper terrace and the portion of the Perennial Allée that leads from the Blomquist Garden through the Azalea Court and to the Spengler Camellia Garden. Detour signs direct visitors around the work.

Native wisteria on the pergola in spring.
Photo by Sue Lannon.

“We’re doing a complete removal of the corrosion and paint,” said Bobby Mottern, the director of horticulture at Duke Gardens. “We decided to take everything back down to bare metal. We’ve never done that before.”

Crews are using a vapor blaster, which is similar to a sandblaster but incorporates water to cut down on dust, Mottern said. The blasting is done with recycled glass, which is ground to a sand-like consistency that won’t harm the metal and doesn’t contain shards that could cut someone. Once the surface is clean, the pergola will be repainted to its original color.

The pergola underwent a major renovation in 2014, including removal of the original invasive Chinese wisteria. You can read more about that project on our website. We apologize for the inconvenience to our visitors, but we hope this improvement will keep the pergola and wisteria looking beautiful for decades to come.

Blogger Sheon Wilson is the publications coordinator at Duke Gardens.