FRONT ROYAL John Piazza remembers when his churchs Thursday night prayer group decided to build a prayer garden for the community.

They wanted to do more than just a simple small garden.

Lets do something that will make a difference in the whole community, he recalled them saying.

Piazzas late wife, Sheron Smith-Piazza, a church deacon, started the Gardening with God prayer group about five years ago, and the group meets every Thursday at the Piazza home in northern Warren County.

A landscape designer, Smith-Piazza had designed various gardens around their home most notably a large backyard oasis with brick walkways, two koi ponds with a small river connecting them, and a patio next to a pear tree and a wall of occupied birdhouses.

She used that garden as inspiration for the churchs prayer garden, her husband said, and although she lost a long battle with cancer on April 27, the prayer group and the greater church community are continuing her legacy.

Last weekend, the congregation at Rockland Community Church, installed a life-size marble statue of Jesus in the heart of their garden space in a field at 2921 Rockland Road.

The garden will sit below a pavilion where the congregation holds regular church services and overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The garden is mapped out with lines that indicate where brick walkways, benches, flowers and eight pink and white dogwood trees will go. The walkways will form a cross around an 8-by-40-foot reflecting pool, and eight small gardens with purple and white flowers will be planted around it.

In September, the prayer group hopes to complete the rest of the work, including relocating several orange koi fish from Piazzas house into the pool thats waiting at the church.

The whole job should cost about $150,000 to $200,000 once completed, Piazza said, but most of the work has already been sponsored by church members.

Benches, individual gardens and giant stone planters are largely spoken for, though the church will continue to sell memorial engraved bricks that range in cost from $150 to $400 to fund the project and to give the community a stake in the garden. So far, Piazza said, about 150 bricks have been sold.

Additionally, he said, the garden will be fenced in, have underground irrigation from the churchs well and have night lighting. Handicap parking will be available, sunset maples will fill in the treeline behind the garden along the churchs property, and Piazza said theyre hoping to plant 200 dogwood trees that community members can buy in memory of loved ones.

Once completed, Piazza hopes the garden will provide not only a meditative space for local residents but also a destination for people encouraged to drive out from Washington, D.C., or beyond.

He also mentioned concerts, weddings and other events that the space could accommodate once it opens to the public.

There are all kinds of possibilities, Piazza said. We want it to be for everybody.

Rockland is a nondenominational church with about 100 members. They typically see 40 to 50 parishioners on Sundays and have welcomed Interim Pastor Mark Jordan, who is retired from being a Baptist minister.

The church has gone through a transformation, said George McIntrye, board chairman for the church.

Theyve added a LOVE sign on their property to tie in with the states Virginia is for Lovers tourism campaign, and an informational sign along the road in front of the church was built by a local Scouting group.

Additionally, McIntyre and fellow prayer group members Dawn and Scott Hinkle and Linda Litchfield have been instrumental in planning the prayer garden, Piazza said.

Since April, Litchfield has taken over as project manager of the garden, and McIntyres business, The Apple House restaurant and gift shop in Linden, donated the funds to pay for the marble statue.

All of this is done to celebrate the good and the love in the world, McIntyre said.

The Hinkles have handled the brick project, placing all the orders, Piazza said.

The four of them, he said, "They're just godsends to this project."

Though the location of the prayer garden was consecrated about a year ago, the church has seen a lot of delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated supply chain issues.

Theyve received all the garden decor but are still waiting on plumbing for the reflection pond before they start planting the flowers and placing other elements around the garden.

The current plan is to do most of the work in September and then hold a dedication ceremony.

Much of the work will be done by church volunteers, but Piazza said that Lantz Construction poured the concrete for the pool and theyll have a contractor supply the plumbing.

His wifes company, Turtle Rock Landscaping, of Rileyville, will do the brickwork under its new owner, Duenis Diaz.

People have needed a place to go and just be, Piazza said. Its coming true now.

McIntrye is also excited to see the garden completed and Smith-Piazzas vision realized.

Weve seen a lot of her work. Were kind of memorializing the whole project after her, he said.

Its the quality of her expertise that comes through. Its like shes still there.

For more information about the project or the church, call 540-635-8312 or visit tinyurl.com/Rockland-Facebook.

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Rockland church community making progress on prayer garden - Northern Virginia Daily