The Paine House was place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The application focused on the house and its historical significance.
In 1985, members of the Worcester Garden Club (along with members of the Col. Timothy Bigelow Chapter of the DAR) proposed a garden plan representative of the garden that Frederic William Paine nurtured. The project was to be an entry at the "Founders Fund - Garden Club of America Landscape Design Project", and it was hoped that the award money would go to the restoration of the grounds and gardens. Much research and planning was undertaken, leading to a period plant list and garden plan, which received Honorary Mention at the Garden Club of America conference in San Francisco.
Unfortunately, and for reasons unknown, the garden restoration plans for the Paine estate never became a reality. (See the pictures of the plan attached).
In 2004, the Worcester Garden Club planted a garden on southwest corner of the house having moved plants from the estate of Margaret (Peggy) Erskine. Other plants were donated and transplanted along the original garden wall on the south side. These gardens today are in complete disrepair.
The following is from the website: Community: Recent Projects, Worcester Garden Club:
The Peggy Erskine Memorial Garden at the Oaks, 2004-2007.
This memorial garden is located at 140 Lincoln Street, Worcester alongside the period home which houses the Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter of the DAR. In 2004 WGC members prepared garden beds and transplanted large shrubs from the former Erskine home on Trowbridge Road, now partially a parking lot for WPI.[There are still trees and plantings there that survive from the Merrifieds and the Erskine eras]. Plants were also transferred from the Clubs circular garden at the Worcester Public Library which was removed to install the sculpture of Major Taylor in 2007.
