Garvan Woodland Gardens

210-acre woodland garden on a Lake Hamilton peninsula

A 210-acre botanical garden draped over a peninsula on Lake Hamilton, about ten minutes south of downtown. The setting is the main event — pine ridges, sandstone outcrops, and long views over the water — but there is plenty of design too. The Anthony Chapel, a 57-foot all-glass wedding chapel built among the trees, is the signature piece.

Best in spring for the azalea hillsides (over 160,000 plants), in autumn for the maples, and in December for the holiday lights show. A network of bridges, the Children's Adventure Garden, and a Japanese-influenced rock garden round out the visit. Allow at least two hours.

things to do sight garden
A story
Verna Cook Garvan, an Arkansas timber-and-paper heiress, spent the last decades of her life buying back the land her family had once clear-cut and planning a garden on it. She left the entire property to the University of Arkansas in 1985; it opened to the public in 2002.