Perhaps you're one of the 5600 people who asked the Trustees not to destroy the Gardens. Perhaps you just learned about it for the first time.

As the current Trustees pointed out in response to the protests in 2008: [We] "have very broad powers to deal with the property left by Ms. Duke". It's true, the Will even gives Trustees the power to demolish the buildings.

As of May 2009, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has destroyed all the plantings of Duke Gardens. The auction of the Garden's statuary will be a further impediment to restoring the Garden under new Trustees.

Will there ever be new Trustees? Four of the Trustees who destroyed the Gardens were appointed by a court, following a lawsuit by one of them that had overturned Doris Duke's last Will. The legal fees were all paid by the Duke estate. Seems that a Trustee lasts until someone else wants enough to replace them, and it might not even cost anything.

Is it possible for new Trustees to restore the gardens?  Yes. Doris Duke left her Foundations incredibly wealthy. Whoever controls that money decides what to spend it on. Gardens are being rebuilt and restored all around the world. 

"We're not destroying anything." Executive Director Tim Taylor, regarding closure of Duke Gardens. Interview with Star Ledger,  March 2008

 

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