Agatha Heritage Hughes, a former Chestnut Hill resident and onetime marketing director for Morris Arboretum, died unexpectedly from a fall outside her home in Maine on Dec. 22.
Born in Virginia in 1954, she lived a life devoted to nature, her rescue dogs, beauty and family. She was a pioneer in the environmental restoration movement, in which ecosystems and landscapes are returned to their native state or in extreme cases, recreated based on historical records.
Hughes was marketing director for Andropogon Associates, a Philadelphia landscaping firm working to marry nature and community, for more than 50 years. With them she helped restore Gettysburg National Military Park to its ecological state at the time of the battle as well as making the battlefield facilities more integrated with the local ecosystem (for example, with parking lots that support natural water flow rather than runoff). As the daughter of an eminent historian, Dr. Thomas Parke Hughes, and his historical and artistic colleague in arms, his wife Agatha Chipley Hughes, this gave her particular pleasure.
In her time as the marketing director for Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill, itself a historic preserver of natural beauty as well as an ongoing research organization, Hughes produced aesthetically elegant, carefully crafted newsletters to draw the community not only into nature but also into the ongoing processes needed to restore and preserve it.
Speaking of beauty, Hughes acted effectively as curator for the historical landmark Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill, a house that not only merited a U.S. postage stamp but was featured in the PBS show “Ten Buildings that Changed America.” Her family lived there 40 years, working to keep it to a standard that pleased architects, and family friends, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, but also welcomed endless visitors and known or aspiring architects. When her parents were gone, Hughes maintained the house and gardens in a pristine state for events like the PBS show as well as multiple national magazine features.
Hughes also was an artist specializing in pastels. Two in particular are “Fast Car” and a cover she did for a music CD.
During this time she adopted and cared for multiple rescue Kerry blue terriers, going so far in her kindness as to care for Suzie, a dog blinded as a result of prior neglect.
Her final years were spent on the coast of Maine around Prospect Harbor with her dogs (including Skippers, who will be joining his extended family in California). Hughes had been a companion for an elderly woman in Maine in her youth and treasured the desire to return there after retirement. She always spoke about how fundamentally happy she was to be surrounded by nature with its beauty seen out the windows to the bay, and to further horizons.
She is survived by her brother Lucian Hughes and nephews and nieces.
“Agatee” (short for “Agatha Three,” being the third Agatha in a row on her mother’s side) engaged with the world’s plants, animals, communities and family, and gave to all of them. “She made her mark and lived her life committed to her values,” her brother said. “We will miss her kind spirit and love of the world.”
Services will be private but Lucian Hughes said memorial donations may be made to the nonprofit Bat Conservation International (batcon.org). Lucian Hughes can be reached at lhughes41@comcast.net.
