South Garden

South Garden path

Some of the trees that surround you were originally planted in the early 1950s to create a place of solace and rejuvenation for weary urbanites and habitat for migrant birds. They were planted by Herbert Johnson, who, in 1952, Robert Moses appointed as the first manager of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Johnson had to transform the inhospitable salt marsh into a diversity of habitats. It didn't take long before warblers, vireos, gnatcatchers, and other songbirds arrived. Take a moment to listen and look. Who knows what species might be joining you today?