We’ve all leafed through calendars and children’s storybooks where soft-focused drawings of lush, Victorian gardens grow inside whitewashed picket fences; where barefoot children in pinafores dance down a woodland lane, posies in hand, oblivious to a world beyond the next grove of trees.
This bucolic world exists. It is the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens located on the nearby James Madison University campus in Harrisonburg, Va., and it lures work-weary Washingtonians to step inside the pages of its real-life storybook for a day trip not soon to be forgotten.
The arboretum’s 125-acre preserve is home to native species of wildflowers, shrubs and trees, one of which is endangered — the Betula uber or round-leaf birch.
“We have over 3 miles of trails [and] have been selected as one of the premier sights for walking or jogging,” said Gail Turnbull, the arboretum’s assistant director. “For 25 years our trails have been mulched, so people who like to jog, walk or hike can do so without joint impact injury issues on our trails.”
Turnbull also pointed out the health benefits of finding genuine serenity in a native woodland environment.
“You can find physical activity in a gym environment, [but] when you add the fresh air, the rustle of leaves, the songbirds and the greetings of other walkers along the trails, it is just an all-around win-win,” she said.
And since the arboretum and gardens are free to the public and open from dawn to dusk, a visit there can be combined with paid activities such as a jaunt to nearby Luray Caverns, Harrisonburg’s Court Square Theater or a stay at the Massanutten Resort.
Dr. Henry Bing, a retired local, walks the trails every day, Monday through Friday.
“The place is unique — a four-season wonderland,” he said. “I saw my first robin there today, and soon the spring will explode; then it will be summer, and the fall is really beautiful. It’s hard to describe the color.”
Sixteen separate outdoor gardens, each with its own name, feature just about every cultured and wildflower variety known to the East Coast region.
“When you come to the arboretum, it’s almost as though stepping back in time and history and seeing a nature garden environment where, by early and mid-April, you get the sense of show it would have appeared to early explorers or Native Americans, when forestlands were untouched,” Turnbull said.
If you go
WHAT: Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
DISTANCE: 80-85 miles from D.C.
DETAILS: 540-568-3194; jmu.edu/arboretum
