History
OUR
Garden History
A group of community members began the search for a suitable location to create a botanical garden for the Williamsburg area in 2002. The group formed a Board of Directors and they considered over a dozen sites.
In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel caused significant damage to Freedom Park. The Williamsburg Botanical Garden Board began discussions with James City County “JCC” regarding the use of an area in the park that the hurricane had opened up and made feasible for a botanical garden.
An agreement was reached in July 2005 between the Garden Board and the JCC Parks & Recreation Department to create a garden on a two-acre area in the park. Design planning by horticulture professionals and other community leaders began in earnest once the site had been determined.
Commencing in October 2005, work began on clearing the site of debris and laying out the paths.
On November 5, 2005, community volunteers including Big Brothers Big Sisters, high school students, William & Mary students, educators, and landscape specialists installed 1,200 plants. This was a huge effort of planting trees, shrubs and other plantings. Volunteers worked for many planting days in the ensuing months after this initial effort.
The Garden officially opened to the public and was dedicated on July 30, 2006.
The Garden continues to improve because of our dedicated volunteers, donations and support from our visitors, members and other community support. Mature specimens may be observed by visitors now that many of the trees and shrubs are almost 20 years old. Improvements continue through the planning efforts of our dedicated Board of Directors, Team Leaders and Volunteers. The Garden is operated by a committed group of volunteers and a dedicated Board with no paid staff.
OUR JOURNEY
Becoming an Arboretum
As already mentioned, Freedom Park was in some degree of disarray from Hurricane Isabel when approval was given to develop the Williamsburg Botanical Garden at its current site. Largely with the loving supervision of Dr. Donna Ware, retired Professor of Biology and Curator of the Herbarium at William & Mary, Williamsburg Botanical Garden became a “museum” and rescue site for native trees and shrubs that were going to be lost to development or for other reasons and the wooded sections of the Garden began to fill in. The first formal inventory was conducted by JCC Williamsburg Master Gardener (JCCWMG) Tree Steward Mitzi Balma in 2013, giving some details and growth information in later studies.
The largest tree and woody shrub inventory of the Williamsburg Botanical Garden was conducted in the first six months of 2020 by the JCCWMG Tree Steward Class of that year. They were Elizabeth McCoy, Jayce Griffin, Jerry Woodson, Harry Fahl, Stephanie Lamb, Marion Guthrie, Judith Alberts, Bob Howell and Bill Dichtel. The group identified, mapped, cataloged, labeled, measured and assessed all of the trees and shrubs. The group found 369 individual trees and shrubs representing 123 unique species.
Not far away, in 2018, in the Free Black Settlement Tract, another JCCWMG Tree Steward Group consisting of Judy Kinshaw-Ellis, Peter Schaub, Nancy Carnegie and Kathy Bush did extensive work clearing around the settlement, identifying trees and shrubs, and planting species of berries and fruits that helped those in the early Freed Black Settlement survive.
Almost simultaneously, the Freedom Settlement Group and the Williamsburg Botanical Garden Board became interested in applying to ArbNet for Arboretum status. ArbNet is the international coordinating and accrediting group for all Arboreta. It is located just outside of Chicago at the Morton Arboretum. The Freedom Park Administration and the Williamsburg Botanical Garden Board wisely concluded the logical way to proceed was to apply as one very strong application including both projects within Freedom Park. The application was submitted and Williamsburg Botanical Garden and Freedom Park Arboretum received its accreditation as a Level 1 Arboretum in November 2021.
Copyright ©2025 Williamsburg Botanical Garden
Address
5537 Centerville Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23188
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 1577
Williamsburg, VA 23187