A north Jefferson County garden club has reached a milestone with an “unheard of” achievement.

The Blue Star Garden Club, which belongs to the North End Council of Garden Clubs, celebrates 60 years in existence this year.

Jason Kirby, archivist for the Birmingham Botanical Garden, said it is not uncommon for garden clubs in Alabama to have been continually active for 20 or 30 years. He added, however, that only three four garden clubs in the state have been continually active for 60 or 70 years.

“Fifty is huge; 60 is unheard of,” Kirby said on Friday during a Blue Star celebration luncheon at the Gardendale Civic Center.

Evangeline Sloan of Warrior, president of the Blue Star club for the third consecutive year, said she is proud to be a part of such a long-standing organization. She joined the club in 1998.

One reason current members know the history of the club is because member Louise Jones, now deceased, saved everything, according to Sloan.

She said Jones’ daughters were cleaning out their mother’s items, and Sloan asked that they save anything related to the garden club.

Club members Frank and Bea Wideman picked up the items, and took it to Sloan’s house. Jones had stored many of the items in cardboard Nabisco cracker boxes; Kirby had one of the boxes at the luncheon.

When Sloan started going through the items, she found a trove of historical gems, including the 1952-53 yearbook the Blue Star Garden Club published during its first year in existence.

“Don’t let her fool you; she has preserved the history of our club,” Blue Star Garden Club member Pat Akers said about Sloan. “We thank God for her.”

Sloan and Akers made two scrapbooks out of the material and donated it to the Birmingham Botanical Garden, where it is stored in an archive room under the careful watch of Kirby.

It was Kirby who first realized that the club would be celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this year.

“This is big for a garden club. It’s a huge honor,” Kirby said.