Huntsville Botanical Garden
Huntsville Botanical Garden Guest Center
Propst Guest Center
Location4747 Bob Wallace Avenue, Huntsville, AL 35805
Coordinates34°42′25″N 86°37′59″W / 34.707°N 86.633°W / 34.707; -86.633
Area118 acres
Established1988
Visitors350,000[1]
OpenYear-round
Websitehttps://hsvbg.org/

The Huntsville Botanical Garden is a 118 acres (480,000 m2) botanical garden located at 4747 Bob Wallace Avenue, Huntsville, Alabama, near the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. It is open year-round for a fee. The garden is ranked third on the list of Alabama's top paid tourist attractions, receiving 353,841 visitors in 2018.[1]

Gardens

Huntsville Botanical Garden Aquatic Garden
Aquatic Garden
Huntsville Botanical Garden Butterfly House
Butterfly House

The gardens include a seasonal butterfly house, and aquatic, annual, daylily, fern, herb, perennial, rose, and wildflower gardens, as well as a nature path and collection of Flowering Dogwood trees. Specific sections of the garden are as follows:

History

The idea for the creation of a botanical garden in Huntsville was first proposed by fourteen people in December 1979. In January 1980, the Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Garden Society was founded and held its first official meeting. The members of the new society persistently attended City Council meetings and politely asked for funding until they were offered 35 acres and three years to raise $200,000, which the city said that it would match. The funding goal was met in just six months.[4][5]

In January 1983, it was decided that the gardens would be built on property leased to the city from the Alabama Space Science Commission. In late 1984, a volunteer crew began to clear the land. In October 1985, a Southern Magnolia was planted to dedicate the new botanical garden. The Huntsville Botanical Garden officially opened in 1988.[4][5]

When the Huntsville Botanical Garden first opened, there were no buildings or restrooms; visitors only drove through.[5] The first master plan for the garden was adopted in 1991.[4] The children's garden and butterfly center opened in 2006.[5] In 2017, the Huntsville Botanical Garden formally unveiled its new $16 million, 30,000 square-foot guest center.[6]

The Huntsville Botanical Garden has twenty Classical Doric columns from the 1914 Madison County Courthouse that was demolished in 1964. Five of these limestone columns are arranged in a circle at the entrance to the garden, and four more were used as part of the entrance gate.[5][7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Roberts, Ken (28 January 2018). "Alabama ranks top tourist attractions". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to the Garden: Fern Glade". Huntsville Botanical Garden. Archived from the original on 17 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  3. ↑ "Bush Azalea Trail". Huntsville Botanical Garden. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "Our Mission and History". Huntsville Botanical Garden. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Ammons, Pat (7 March 2014). "Huntsville Botanical Garden plans for new welcome center, column courtyard". AL.com. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  6. ↑ Gattis, Paul (31 March 2017). "Huntsville Botanical Garden unveils $16 million facility". AL.com. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  7. ↑ Huggins, Paul (29 September 2012). "Huntsville Botanical Garden installing historic courthouse columns". AL.com. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
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