The Humes Garden is a fine example of a Japanese stroll garden in the Northeast United States, seamlessly integrating ageless Japanese landscape techniques with the woodland terrain of Long Island’s North Shore. The Garden Conservancy was instrumental in saving the garden from closing in 1993 and now manages the garden on behalf of the Humes Japanese Stroll Garden Foundation and oversees its long-term preservation.
Download a PDF of the Humes Garden Guide, with a garden map, plant list, and other details.
Read The John P. Humes Japanese Garden at Fifty, an essay by Stephen A. Morrell, 2010
Historical Timeline
1960: Lawyer John P. Humes (later Ambassador to Austria from 1969 to 1975) and his wife, Jean, visit Kyoto. Inspired by their visit, they spend the next 4 years transforming a wooded corner of their Mill Neck, Long Island estate into a meditative Japanese landscape, including an imported tea house. They engage a Japanese landscape designer and his wife, Douglas and Joan DeFaya, to design and direct the installation of the original two-acre section of the garden.
1980: Humes forms the Humes Japanese Garden Foundation for the purposes of maintenance and preservation of the Stroll Garden.
1982: Humes engages Stephen Morrell as curator to rehabilitate and expand the garden, and to facilitate its transition from a private to public garden.
1985: John P. Humes dies and the management of the garden passes to the Humes Japanese Garden Foundation. The Japanese Stroll Garden opens to the public.
1993: With the garden struggling financially, the Garden Conservancy assumes management of the garden.
1997: Stroll Garden receives a challenge grant from the Japan World Exposition Commemorative Fund. The Garden Conservancy works with the Humes Foundation and the Friends of the Humes Japanese Stroll Garden to raise matching funds.
1998: Funds raised in 1997 allow for the rejuvenation of the waterfall, a key feature of the garden, and construction of a masonry wall to mitigate road noise.
1998: The New York Times features the John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden and calls it a "Hidden Jewel."
2000: Mrs. Humes, the garden's co-creator, passes away, adding funds to bolster a diminishing endowment for the garden.
2000: A new entrance gate is constructed by Peter Wechsler from native Eastern red cedar, using traditional carpentry methods of the master temple builders of Japan.
2001: With funds from the Freeman Foundation, the Stroll Garden begins its education outreach program to bring the Japanese garden into the classroom.
2009: Transfer of an additional parcel of land from the Humes family brings the Stroll Garden’s total acreage up to seven, of which four acres are under cultivation.
Open
The garden is open to the public Saturdays and Sundays, April 25 through October 25.
Hours
1:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Last admission is at 4 p.m.
Admission and Tours
$7 per person; children under 12 and Garden Conservancy members free.
Private tours and tea ceremony demonstrations by appointment on Thursdays and Fridays. Public tours on designated Saturdays. Reservations are required for all tours. Call 516.676.4486 for dates and reservations.
Special Garden Conservancy Open Day 2010
May 16, 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Directions
The garden is located at the corner of Oyster Bay Road and Dogwood Lane in Mill Neck, NY, on the North Shore of Long Island about 26 miles from Manhattan and one mile from Planting Fields Arboretum, and the Long Island Railroad’s Oyster Bay Line. Taxis are available at the LIRR station.