Neighborhood Mixology

This past Sunday, for the third year in a row, Cutest and I strolled about the neighborhood known as Union Hill. Each year in June, folks are invited to purchase tickets and tread the sidewalks, absorbing the beauty of more than fourteen flower gardens nestled in front of, beside or behind eclectic homes.

Bucolic Union Hill is bounded by Main to the west, Gillham to the east, 31st street to the south and 27th street on the north.

A quick history lesson. Union Hill was established in 1857. The eponymous and aging cemetery abuts the northern boundary. Over 55,000 people have been interred in the cemetery, including many notables of Kansas City’s past. Also here lay buried some of the casualties of the Civil War battle at nearby Westport.

Today many young families and couples have become the caretakers of the vaguely Italianate or colorful Victorian style homes which proliferate the rolling landscape. Trees by the curbs hang their branches over the streets and sidewalks, providing umbrellas from either the hot sun or occasional showers that popped up that day. However, moisture did not dampen the spirits of other tourists as smiles and “good morning“ salutations greeted us often.

It's all about the gardens, the colors, the flowers, the clever use of mostly small plots of land, and there's also whimsy and humor. Arrow > through the pictures below to get a glimpse.

Two street-side food trucks, a driveway coffee tent and an artfully painted porch offering bakery items (by Morning Rounds Bakery whose owner lives here) were food stop choices we encountered. On down the lane, a string quartet from the Kansas City Symphony found a wrap-around porch to be the perfect stage for their quiet music.  A little girl sold her artwork to buy teacher supplies. A few blocks over, a guitarist strummed tunes beneath a temporary sidewalk tent.

Next year, indulge yourself and check out the flower garden tour first-hand. You will go home wondering how this hidden-in-plain-sight neighborhood exists so peacefully in bustling Kansas City.