SHEPHERDSTOWN -- After finished being built in 2022, the Shepherdstown Public Library's (SPL) grounds underwent a thorough landscaping using native plants, under the guidance of its Garden Stewards. Those native plants created a hospitable environment for wild animals and insects, including butterflies.

Shepherdstown resident Jessie Ward was hired as the children's library assistant during the summer of 2022, and immediately recognized a potential teaching opportunity, related to the butterflies in the native plant garden. Soon after, a butterfly habitat, with a couple of monarch caterpillars in it, was introduced to the children's department counter.

"My first summer there, we started doing it, and we've done it every summer since," Ward said, noting a second butterfly habitat has since

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