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A Storied Landscape: New Public Interpretation at America's Oldest Surviving Botanic Garden

Bartram's Garden
The 1728 John Bartram House at Bartram’s Garden in Southwest Philadelphia. Photo by Steve Weinik for Mural Arts' Art@Bartram's project.
The 1728 John Bartram House at Bartram’s Garden in Southwest Philadelphia. Photo by Steve Weinik for Mural Arts' Art@Bartram's project.
A segment of the Bartram’s Mile Trail, a 1.55-mile paved recreational trail running throughout Bartram’s Garden. Photo courtesy Bartram’s Garden.
A segment of the Bartram’s Mile Trail, a 1.55-mile paved recreational trail running throughout Bartram’s Garden. Photo courtesy Bartram’s Garden.
View of Center City Philadelphia and the Tidal Schuylkill River from the Bartram’s Mile Trail. Photo courtesy Bartram’s Garden.
View of Center City Philadelphia and the Tidal Schuylkill River from the Bartram’s Mile Trail. Photo courtesy Bartram’s Garden.

New interpretive installations and guided tours reveal lesser-known histories within Bartram’s Garden and its adjacent Southwest Philadelphia neighborhoods and expands the public’s access to stories about the people, geology, and ecosystems surrounding the National Historic Landmark. The project draws from ongoing research on local Black history dating back to the colonial period and is informed by contributions from an intergenerational cohort of community advisors and high school students. A Storied Landscape offers a new dialogue-based tour program, interpretive installations along the 1.4-mile length of the site’s outdoor recreational trail, and interactive multimedia content available to view online.

The total grant amount represents project funding plus an additional 20% in unrestricted general operating support. 

Recipient
Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden is a home for horticulture, the first nationally landmarked landscape, and the oldest surviving botanic garden in North America. The site encompasses the 1728 John Bartram House and farm buildings, a 12-acre historic garden, a 15-acre meadow reclaimed from a former concrete factory, a recreational trail and public dock, community farm, orchard, and food resource center, plant nursery, and the only tidal wetlands on the lower Schuylkill River.

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