The John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden is a 4-acre (16,000 m2) Japanese garden in Mill Neck, New York, providing a retreat for passive recreation and contemplation.
The garden was begun in 1960 for Ambassador and Mrs. John P. Humes upon their return from Japan, and built over the next four years. In 1980 it was donated to the Wild Life Sanctuary, and opened to the public in 1987. In 1993 the Garden Conservancy assumed management of the garden.
The garden is built on steeply sloping terrain, and aims to invoke the sensation of a remote mountain village. It contains a lake, and tea house in the shoin-dzukuri style of the Ashikaga period, brought from Japan by Ambassador Humes.
Moving through the garden, where the views, textures and balance of elements have been planned following Japanese aesthetic principles, visitors experience a walking meditation inducing inner peace. Stepping stones are used to control the rate at which one moves through the garden, encouraging moment-to-moment reflection. The garden suggests a hillside landscape beside the sea, where gravel paths represent streams that form pools and cascades, eventually flowing into the ocean represented by a pond.
Of special interest in the garden are the tea house, tea garden, stone lanterns, mosses, waterfall, pond, and a collection of related North American and Asian plants.
The Humes Japanese Stroll Garden is operated by the Garden Conservancy through an agreement with the Humes Japanese Garden Foundation, which owns the property.
Famous quotes containing the words john p, john, japanese, stroll and/or garden:
“Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family—a domestic church.”
—John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] (b. 1920)
“It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing.”
—Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890)
“No human being can tell what the Russians are going to do next, and I think the Japanese actions will depend much on what Russia decides to do both in Europe and the Far East—especially in Europe.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“It is characteristic of the epistemological tradition to present us with partial scenarios and then to demand whole or categorical answers as it were.”
—Avrum Stroll (b. 1921)
“These are thy wonders, Lord of love,
To make us see we are but flowers that glide.
Which when we once can finde and prove,
Thou hast a garden for us where to bide.”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)