For Curtis “Gunny” Jones, commander of American Legion Cook-Pinkney Post 141 in Annapolis, supporting veterans takes many forms. Now, he’s found a new one: Helping them work the soil near the Legion hall.

Jones is working with the Mid-Atlantic-based developer Ingerman to build a 32,000-square-foot, or roughly three-quarters of an acre, garden just steps outside the hall. The land, valued at $800,000 when appraised in 2019, was donated by the developer, which recently broke ground on a new affordable housing complex next door.

“[The American Legion] has helped build our property and enhances theirs,” said David Holden, development principal at Ingerman. “[We’re] creating the garden with the Legion as a place of tranquility.”

Jones says the vegetables and chickens raised in the garden will be given to people in the area and hopes veterans “can come sit and meditate or walk the trail to the other end for peace of mind and have a place to go and let their mind escape.”

Jones and the developer started working together when planning for The Willows at Forest Drive began in 2019. Jones is hopeful the 58-unit housing complex will have some veterans as tenants, although the developer has not committed to that.

“When I run across people I ask the question, ‘Are you at risk of being homeless or are you looking for a new place to live?’ … I tell them there’s a new development called The Willows they can go online and apply,” Jones said.

Construction of the 3.6-acre housing project, budgeted at $23.6 million, faced delays before it was approved by the Annapolis Planning Commission last year. Projected then to be completed by the end of this year, the first of The Willows’ three buildings is now slated to open in the spring.

Jones has been there each step of the way, attending City Council and planning meetings, and now meets with Ingerman regularly for updates. Joining him often is Annapolis real estate broker Tara Stout.

“As a real estate deal it took a long time, but it’s really rewarding because you’re out and about and people in the community are thanking you because they feel you fought for them,” Stout said. “It opened a lot of people’s eyes in the process. … And the community feels very victorious that we got it through.”

With The Willows at Forest Drive underway, the Legion is working with the Maryland Reentry Resource Center, which helps formerly incarcerated individuals transition back into the community, and YieldCamp, an environmental conservation group, to clear the land and build the garden. When complete, it will have plots for vegetables, chicken coops and high platform garden beds to allow those in wheelchairs to access them, among others.

Growing up, Jones built gardens in the Philadelphia neighborhood where he was raised. Since retiring from the Marine Corps in 1998, he does it as a form of stress relief.

“Being there digging in the dirt is a way to release yourself. And dirt doesn’t talk back.” Jones said. “So, when you’re working in there and [tilling] the soil, you plant something and see it grow, you can say, ‘I did that.’”

As part of their cooperative arrangement, the Legion sold a portion of its land to Ingerman for $220,000. That land will be used as an entrance to the development.

Jones and his team of volunteers want to have the garden ready before the first tenants arrive at The Willows. The adjacent property has been cleared and foundation work is underway. Applications to live at The Willows will be available early next year.

“I think that you should always be able to approach development and be a good neighbor where you can come to an agreement where everybody wins,” said Stout. “And with the American Legion, they wanted the garden parcel, and we didn’t need it and were able to give it to them.”