Outstanding Sculpture Gardens and Parks in the Northeast

Set foot in a sculpture garden or park and you’ll find a peaceful environment bubbling with sensory delights. It’s something that’s sure to be a balm for the soul, while also offering room to roam, unencumbered by the four walls of an art museum.

Here are seven outdoor sculpture enclaves in the Northeast worth exploring.

Need a ride? Rent a car.

Bedrock Gardens

Lee, New Hampshire

Fanciful discoveries await as you roam this serene 30-acre property. Woodland paths weave about, taking you on a journey to almost 24 garden spaces designed by Jill Nooney and cocreator Bob Munger. She also fashioned whimsical sculptures, giving rusted farm equipment, air compressor tanks and other found objects a new life as unexpected works of art. In the Dark Woods, a grove of dead white pine trees, a creature with bulbous eyes and a jagged mouth squats on the forest floor. Amid eye-popping pink, orange and yellow blooms in the Garish Garden stands a quirky, curly-haired female figure. Whether gazing at white bloomed Chinese fringe trees or a fluffy, purple-colored smoke bush, you’ll find places to relax, even on tractor seats turned into swivel chairs.

Top Travel Destinations

Explore the most popular getaways booked by AAA Northeast members!

Download Now

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Boothbay, Maine

Ornamental gardens blanket 19 acres of this 325-acre verdant expanse where twisty paths connect an array of themed areas such as the water lily-laden Slater Forest Pond where dragonflies flit about, and the forest-rimmed Vayo Meditation Garden where still waters fill a schist stone basin.

Over a dozen sculptures fleck the landscape, including a wavy granite bench and a steel rebar wolf. Two new pieces by indigenous artists reflect cultural identity, sustainability and respect for the land. For example, Shane Perley-Dutcher created a pair of braided copper fiddleheads, reflecting this traditional Native American food and basketry techniques. But the most famous members of the gardens may be the five giant, friendly trolls created by Thomas Dambo using all sorts of repurposed wood, including old roots and oak bark.

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

Lincoln, Massachusetts

Nestled atop rocky outcrops, among forests of Japanese cedar and Norwegian spruce, on well-tended lawns and along the shore of placid Flint’s Pond, this 30-acre green space showcases an eclectic array of modern and contemporary works. You’ll do plenty of ambling on this undulating landscape as you seek out many of the park’s five dozen or so sculptures.

Along a secluded path stands a cluster of eight translucent plastic doors (“Best of All Possible Worlds,” by Saul Melman) that replicate their location in the artist’s home. Another lane brings you to a bucolic setting with a series of granite arches where water tumbles about (Ron Rudnicki’s “Rain Gates”). Don’t miss the severely tilted shingled cabin (“Huff and a Puff,” by Hugh Hayden) that’s a facsimile of Thoreau’s one-room dwelling on Walden Pond.

Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens

Purchase, New York

Named for the former PepsiCo CEO who initiated the sculpture garden’s development, the 168 acres on the campus is an oasis of woodlands, ponds and numerous garden rooms designed by noted British landscape architect Russell Page. Saunter through a tunnel of climbing hydrangeas to access the Stream Garden, relish the 10-foot-tall Chinese silver grasses in the Grass Garden and listen to the bull frogs in the Water Lily Garden. Wander across lawns and along a golden-hued gravel path to inspect the 42 sculptures created by such 20th century masters as Alexander Calder and Henry Moore. Circle around Moore’s bronze “Double Oval” that sometimes looks like two objects and other times, not so much. Only by standing underneath Calder’s red painted steel “Hats Off” can you see a group of people tossing their hats.

Green Animals Topiary Garden

Portsmouth, Rhode Island

A menagerie of two dozen leafy creatures populates this 7-acre former country estate — considered the oldest topiary garden in the U.S. — that sits beside scenic Narragansett Bay. Fashioned from yew, English boxwood or California privet, a baby giraffe, a unicorn, a reindeer and a camel are just a few that are sure to capture your attention, along with non-animal topiary including a sailboat.

To see everything on this property that dates to the turn of the 20th century, meander along the manicured paths, discovering smaller gardens dedicated to herbs, vegetables, orchards, berries and other plantings, including centuries-old Damask roses, and arbors draped with grape vines and gourds. Most notably, spring brings a cornucopia of hues from the thousands of blooming tulips; and, later, lupine, coral bells and other brilliant blossoms.

Grounds for Sculpture

Hamilton Township, New Jersey

An air of playfulness and magic pervades this 42-acre sculpture park, museum and arboretum that was established by renowned sculptor J. Seward Johnson. Wander paths shaded by bald cypress, American sweetgum and hundreds of other tree species, becoming delightfully lost as you stand in awe of the works — many by Johnson — which are so realistic that they often require a double-take.

A naked woman relaxes beside a picnic basket on the grass (“Dejeuner Déjà Vu”) inspired by an Edouard Manet painting. Atop a grassy hill dotted with red blossoms, a woman wearing a sweeping skirt holds a shade umbrella (“On Poppied Hill”) based on Monet’s work, “Woman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son.” One of the most dramatic, “The Awakening,” depicts the five aluminum segments of a giant who appears to be climbing out of the earth.

Hogpen Hill Farms

Woodbury, Connecticut

Who thought that art doesn’t mix with science? Edward Tufte, a former Yale and Princeton professor who’s considered a pioneer in data visualization, established this 234-acre tree farm, peppering it with his megalithic and steel sculptures that are often imbued with a sense of whimsy. For example, a fully equipped vintage airstream trailer perches at the end of a steel beam, as if ready to launch into space. Set in a field, one of several yellow diamond warning signs states “Sign Not In Use.” With more than 100 pieces of art speckling the hilly landscape, every member of your family will find something enthralling, whether it’s the irony of a 2-foot-high graceful dancer wielding a tool, or the assemblage of rugged stones forming a delicate, airy wall.

Save on admission to botanical gardens and more with AAA Tickets.

What’s your favorite Northeast sculpture garden or park? Tell us in the comments below.

Featured image: “The Awakening” at Grounds for Sculpture. Courtesy of Jeanine Barone.