Sleepy Hollow (1910s to 1920s)

While it is separated by West Circle Drive, Sleepy Hollow remains part of the Beal Botanical Garden. This area is critical to the history and identy of the garden, it being the site of the original garden. First planted in 1873, the garden comprised a modest collection of weeds, grasses, and clovers—140 species in total—and generally blended in with the natural landscape, devoid of commercial or obvious human maneuvering. Being comprised mostly of grasses, Professor Beal labeled this area “the Grass Garden.”

As time went by, the Grass Garden disappeared and new plants eventually were added. In 1961, moist and well-drained, humus-rich soil allowed the Garden to grow hybrids of acidophilous plants like rhododendrons and azaleas. These are now planted at sleepy Hollow thanks to the high canopy of mature oak trees providing the area with shading.

The photo taken is dated to be around the 1910s and early 1920s, showing what Sleepy Hollow used to look like as well as the surrounding buildings. One of the young trees taken in the photo is an eastern white pine, and that tree is still alive today.