HERITAGE GARDEN
Most tours at Goodell Gardens & Homestead begin where our organizational journey began: in the Heritage Garden. Surrounding Carrie’s Cabin and extending westward from the Welcome Center that once served as the Goodell family home, the Heritage Garden was developed around Carrie’s Cabin to become her “Garden of Eden.” This garden space still displays many specimens originally planted by Carrie. In re-culturing the Heritage Garden to suit its contemporary guise as a shade garden (since Carrie’s trees have long since grown from seeds and saplings to climax-story specimens), Goodell staff were mindful of the Garden’s slow evolution from a full-sun garden in the 1920s, 30s and 40s to a part- and full-shade garden in 1950s, 60s and 70s. Carrie’s diaries and Margaret’s photo collection, which are currently held in the Goodell archives, provided a near-complete and certainly invaluable historic record of the Heritage Garden’s evolution. Today, the Heritage Garden features a large collection of native and hybrid Rhododendron and Azalea specimens as well as a treasure trove of other historically-significant exotic and native herbaceous and woody specimens.
