A Look at the St. Croix Brewing Co. Beer Garden Restoration

Our future home - the Brunswick House - has many quirks and charms. For instance, the first floor is a bit off-kilter because the house survived a landslide in the 19th century. These quirks make for a lively, if not prolonged, restoration – it’s our labor of love.

One of the particular standout features of this 1840s property is our beer garden. It will be our secret oasis in Stillwater, and we cannot wait for you to enjoy a pint in the garden soon.

When we began the task of restoring our beer gardens, we knew it would be grueling work. We bought the property out of foreclosure and years of disuse had allowed the gardens to reach Jumanji-like status: think arms-thick wild grapevines, buried and forgotten limestone walls, invasive plants and weeds growing rampant, and years-worth of litter (on that note, please be considerate of your neighbors and throw your trash in a can/recycle).

The Brewery Gardens (circa 2016, 2023 and 2024)

We officially began restoration work on the gardens last summer – our first task was to tame.

We cut back, we purged, we weeded, we hacked. We dug up old flagstones. We built ourselves a near-blank canvas.

Our Beautiful Fern Garden

From this canvas, we began to rebuild and restore - starting with our fern garden. We spent weeks last summer cutting up cardboard and laying down a framework of cardboard and mulch to prevent the future growth of our arch-nemesis, Creeping Charlie. (Shout out to our friends, who gave us your cardboard. It went to great use!)

West Wall (circa 2016, 2023 and 2024)

This summer, we hit the ground running: getting plants in the ground, more weeding, and making friends with worms, birds and bugs. Progress has been sweet. Our ferns and plants have been happy.

North Wall (Summers 2023 and 2024)

We also transformed the wood features throughout the property, including the west border wall, pergola, and arbor. We power washed, repaired and stained.

The Team Hard at Work