Japanese Stroll Garden and Hammond Museum

People in New York are not aware of what is known as Japanese Stroll Garden or Hammond Museum which is only an hour on the Harlem line from the Grand Central Station. It is a museum on the border of New York State in Westchester County, North Salem to be exact. It is breath taking; it is a gem that you suddenly come across in the woods.

Hammond is known for its beautiful Japanese Garden which Ms Hammond designed in her property. Natalie Hays Hammond (1904 – 1985) was a daughter of a mining developer John Hammond who later became a diplomat and philanthropist. She spent her early life travelling to Asia with her parents and in 1957 Ms. Hammond designed the garden and built the museum as an oasis of tranquility and culture. Japanese Stroll Garden has maintained its original shape ever since except for the improvements mother nature made over the years.

“In designing the garden Ms. Hammond borrowed the basic principles of the traditional Japanese Garden, incorporating indigenous and imported species of plants with the character of the landscape and native rock.” (phrase from the leaflet of the Hammond museum.)

It is truly amazing that somebody who is not a ‘professional’, like Ms. Hammond, created all on her own this elegant and peaceful environment which so accurately captures the essence of Japanese gardens. I would also like to congratulate the people involved with the museum through the years, people who have dutifully kept up the museum in such a good shape.

The exhibitions at the museum do not concentrate only on Japan but showcase works by artists of other Asian countries as well, which makes the museum more compelling. It truly serves the purpose of an oasis of tranquility, especially for the people living in Manhattan.