On the grounds of the Carter Center Presidential Center there is a Japanese garden. The grounds are open to the public and can be accessed behind the Carter Library. However, it should be noted that there is no direct access to the Japanese garden, a path with stairs exists, but can only be accessed via The Carter Center, which requires a business appointment or special permission.
Website: https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/nondatabase/revised-garden-brochure.pdf
According to the Presidential Center Garden Brochure, the garden was designed by Japanese Master Gardener Kinsaku Nakane and donated by the YKK Corporation. There is a series of waterfalls that exist as part of the garden with the larger of the two representing President Jimmy Carter and the smaller one representing Rosalynn Carter. Throughout the garden there are Japanese maples, rhododendrons, azaleas, and other Japanese plants.
I was a bit disappointed with this garden. Pictures I had seen online suggested a well maintained garden. However, many were taken around 2012 or later.
The garden today looks very different. Less open, somewhat overgrown, and difficult to view from the pedestrian walkway from which people are restricted. I found it very difficult to get a good photo and was unable to convince anyone at the Center to grant me access to the garden site, which can only be entered through the Carter Center which is fenced off, not the Presidential Library from which it can only be viewed at a distance.
Perhaps in the early spring or fall the garden looks nicer - plan accordingly.
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After patiently waiting a couple of years, I finally had the opportunity to visit the Japanese garden at Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
The garden is open for public tours only a couple days each year. Getting a ticket can be difficult, once they go one sale, they disappear very quickly that day. The number of people is limited to 15 per visit, with two visits on that day, one in the spring and one in the fall. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund manages the site.
Website: https://www.rbf.org/pocantico/stewardship/japanese-garden-pocantico
Originally built between 1908-1910, the garden spans across the lower hillside below the Kykuit mansion. It contained a large oval pond surrounded by boulders that was fed by a brook. On the edge of the pond was a wooden Meiji-style teahouse, while elsewhere stroll garden pathway surrounded the site.
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| 1909 Teahouse |
Overgrown by the 1960s, Nelson Rockefeller renovated and expanded the garden. The teahouse was moved to an area adjacent to the existing garden. A new Shoin-style teahouse was built in 1962.
A series of stepping stone path wind through the garden, crossing a small brook, that leads towards a stone lined gorge and waterfall. The pond in front of the teahouse is edged with Japanese maples and yew. There is also a dry Zen garden in the style of Ryoan-Ji in Kyoto, Japan. There are cherry trees, azalea, rhododendron, daffodils and day lilies throughout. There are also several moss covered ares as well.
Reading: The Japanese Garden at Pocantico by Cynthia Bronson Altman
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