Eagle Scout builds pergola

A pergola was recently added to the Arlington Community Garden thanks to work from local eagle scout Isaac Hammond.

Hammond completed the pergola (an outdoor garden feature that creates a shaded walkway) as his Eagle Scout project.

“I was looking for a project and reached out to the city of Arlington,” said Hammond, who added city officials hoped that some project could be implemented to enhance the new community garden that opened this spring.

“I thought the pergola would be good to do because it would be a challenge, but it was something I felt I could get done,” said Hammond.

Hammond said that it was indeed a big project that involved a lot of work.

“The biggest part was all the planning that was involved. Where to get the wood and who to talk to,” he said.

Arlington Hardware provided much of the materials for the project and other local businesses helped as well.

“A lot of it I didn’t really know how to do until I talked to Coast Construction,” said Hammond.

Trevor Gaskin, president of Coast Construction, said they were happy to help with the project.

“Coast is a tight-knit community business that believes it is extremely important to give back to the community that we call home. We’re happy we were able to help him complete his project and provide a nice amenity for Arlington residents,” said Gaskin.

Hammond and others put the project together over a few days.

“We started with putting holes in the ground and cement, and then we had to wait a couple of days to let it dry and put everything else up,” he said.

The plans Hammond and others were working from assumed that the pergola would be constructed on a deck, so they had to modify the plans a bit to put in concrete for the base poles.

After the cement dried, Hammond and other local Scout members helped to put up the poles.

“I had people from my Scout troop come and help as well as just family and friends,” said Hammond.

They also did a lot of work to put in the bolts and putting the wood boards together.

“Those big brackets were really difficult because of how thick they were, so we had a lot of trouble drilling through them but we eventually got it,” said Hammond.

The pergola is now a part of the community garden.

“I think it came out pretty good,” said Hammond.

“It’s weird being done. You feel like it wasn’t that bad once you started working on it,” he said.

Gaskin said that Hammond did a good job as well.

“Isaac did a great job planning and executing the project and it turned out great,” he said.