Newark Museum Garden

New Jersey’s largest museum, the Newark Museum, holds premier collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas and the ancient world. Located in the heart of a very active downtown city, it operates as a museum of service and a leader in connecting objects and ideas to the needs and wishes of its constituencies. The garden space outside the building serves as an outdoor teaching and activity center and was urgently in need of extensive renovation by 1980. Members of the Garden Club of Somerset Hills developed a long range plan to give the garden a much needed face-lift.

In 1981, the Founders Fund Award went to restore the 1.2 acre Victorian era garden so that it may thrive with as little maintenance as possible. The project took ten years to complete because the museum began a lengthy restoration project on the building which impeded the immediate completion of the garden.

In 1991, the garden was formally dedicated and has since become a popular site for community programs, performances and workshops. The garden is also host to changing outdoor exhibitions and was featured in the book, A Guide to the Sculpture Parks and Gardens of America, in 1996.