Hammond’s Stroll Garden Offers Respite and Tranquility in Westchester

Inspired by the gardening philosophies of East Asia, the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden has been a Westchester fixture since 1957. Every April through December, the garden offers visitors a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life among nature.

The Hammond’s executive director, Elizabeth Hammer, explains the history of the property and its founding by affluent artist and writer Natalie Hays Hammond: “According to her writing, [the garden was designed] essentially to give people a respite where they can enjoy nature and slow down and catch their breath, which is sort of funny – to think we’re still trying [to do that] so many years later.”

In the 1920s, Natalie Hammond travelled to Japan with her father, John Hays Hammond, a millionaire who made his fortune as a mining engineer. Inspired by her trip, she decided to bring the beauty of Japanese gardens to Westchester. Hammond broke ground on the Stroll Garden in the 1950s, a time when it was fashionable for wealthy people to build Japanese gardens, says Hammer.

Stroll gardens, as opposed to many Western gardens, cannot be seen in its entirety from a singular vantage point. Hammond’s stroll garden appears “artfully natural”—that is, outwardly spontaneous but, in actuality, highly manicured. Stroll gardens are designed to reveal themselves gradually to visitors and to give those who walk among them a feeling of connection to untouched nature. Hammer explains, “When you go out [into the garden], you’ll see the cultivated part, and that’s considered to be the part of nature that’s a little more closely connected to… the human world.”

As visitors wander past the garden’s entrance, the garden becomes seemingly less groomed. According to Hammer, “there’s a less cultivated trail that goes through the back of the garden that’s kind of rough and winding, and that’s supposed to give you the feeling like you’re out in the mountains.”

She continues: “This [concept] is connected to Shinto [in Japan], Taoism [in China], [and] Shamanism in Korea…The belief really is that human life is very corrupting over time…and the antidote is to stay closely connected to nature.”

An Evolving Garden

In the 60 years since its creation, the Hammond’s stroll garden has evolved—selectively choosing what elements from traditional Japanese gardening it incorporates and expanding from Natalie Hammond’s original version of the garden. While the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden is heavily inspired by Japanese gardening principles and design, it is not a traditional Japanese stroll garden. “It’s quicker to say a Japanese stroll garden, but it’s actually a Japanese inspired garden,” explains Hammer.

One feature that deviates from a traditional Japanese stroll garden is the dry garden, or zen garden, found near the front entrance. Dry gardens are symbolic, with beds of pebbles meant to represent water or clouds. “That would never be found in a stroll garden in Japan,” says Hammer. “That is supposed to be in a Zen temple or meditation center.”

Natalie Hammond also made “borrowings,” according to Hammer, from Japanese gardening traditions she did not strictly adhere to. Notably, she did not hire any Japanese designers to create the garden and not all of the plants are native to Japan. She explains: “Really now part of our evolution [is the question of] ‘How closely do we stay to Japanese tradition?’.”

Other unique features at the Hammond include a “tea hut,” once used by Natalie Hammond for tea ceremonies, which is now used for art installations. The Hammond’s currently operating tea house was prefabricated in Kyoto around 2010 and was formerly a part of Natalie’s library.

Hammond’s Highlights

In addition to the garden, the property boasts a gallery and a ceramic school. The gallery initially displayed work from Natalie Hammond’s personal collection and rotated its displays about every six months. Now, it shows what Hammer calls “an eclectic mix of cultural understanding and… a good bit of contemporary regional art.” Visitors can expect to see Asian art exhibitions, as well as contemporary art by artists from the region.

The art school, a part of Natalie Hammond’s vision for the property since its origin, was rebuilt and reopened in the fall of 2024. Geared mostly towards adults, with a few family workshops, the Hammond’s art school offers classes in painting, sculpting, ceramics and mixed media—as well classes in the Japanese art of flower arranging, Ikebana.

Seasonal Delights

The Stroll Garden’s cherry blossom trees are perhaps the property’s most popular botanical attraction. “Enthusiastic would be an understatement,” says Hammer of visitors’ reactions to the cherry blossom grove being in bloom: “People will come in the spring… walk in the front door, [ask] ‘Are the cherry blossoms blooming?’ And [if it is a ‘no’] they… leave.”

Hammond offers plenty to those who miss the cherry blossoms in late April. Chief Arborist for the city of Yonkers Ralph Padilla is sculpting three juniper trees to look “artfully natural.” “[The juniper trees] are very much like large-scale bonsai in that he’s crafting them to make a very distinctive geometric appearance,” says Hammer.

Other garden highlights include a bamboo grove, irises in the spring, and a pond (originally dug in Natalie Hammond’s day) that boasts water lilies throughout the summer. The colors of the garden are more monochrome in the summer, an aesthetic sensibility belonging to Japanese gardens looking to reflect the muted color scheme of the mountains. In the autumn, the Japanese maples turn magenta.

Hammer almost forgets, “We also have lots of turtles and frogs in our pond—and the frogs are very popular.” She references some of the Hammond’s most eager patrons, “Tell any little kid we’ve got frogs, and they’re here.”

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_{Photos of Hammond Museum & Japanese Scroll Garden by Daniel Wood for ArtsWestchester}

About Mia Castellano

Mia Castellano is ArtsWestchester’s Digital Content Manager. She writes “What’s Westchester Watching?,” a monthly movie guide featuring new releases and special screenings, for ArtsNews. Mia holds a Bachelor’s degree concentrated in filmmaking and photography from Sarah Lawrence College.