American Indian Cultural Garden

AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURAL GARDEN

Nestled across from the American Indian Center on the UNC campus is the American Indian Cultural Garden, a living testament to North Carolina’s rich Native American heritage. A joint effort of the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) and UNC’s American Indian Center, the garden offers a green space replete with plants and infrastructure native to North Carolina and significant to the state’s tribes. 

Created to celebrate Indigenous culture and to integrate traditional ecological knowledge, the garden enables students to engage in a culturally rooted space that can help them adjust to campus life. It also is used to serve as a teaching tool for the greater community

Entering the garden, visitors are greeted by a bed of native plants such as Christmas ferns, cardinal flowers, and southeastern goldenrod. A winding path flanked by plants and herbs leads to a medicine wheel. The wheel appears across many tribal nations, and is a visual tool for meditation, guidance, prayer, and healing. Behind the medicine wheel stands a dogwood designated as a prayer tree.

Moving along the pathway, one approaches a gathering circle that is centered around a welcoming fire pit. Flanked by eastern red cedars interspersed with shrubs, the gathering place provides a site for student organizations and other UNC affiliates to meet in a culturally significant space and enjoy community with one another, a significant aspect of Indigenous life.

Beyond lies a circular outline of a proposed outdoor classroom, intended to be a space for non-Western education. A twisting, snake-like path winding around the rear of the acreage leads to a woodland garden featuring elderberry, ferns and spice bush. Beyond lies the Native and Southern Foodways section, featuring cultivated crops significant to Southeastern native tribes, including the Three Sisters –corn, squash and beans--as well as rabbit eye blueberries, collard greens, and wild bergamot. Further on, a stalwart Yaupon holly marks the end of the trail. 

Visionaries who brought the garden to life include Randi Byrd of the American Indian Center (AIC) and Joanna Massey Lelekacs  (NCBG). Alongside them were Dan Stern, the NCBG director of horticulture, project manager for construction of the garden, and Becca Wait, curator of the Allen Education Center landscape at NCBG, who has led the interns in creating planting, design and maintenance plans.

The American Indian Cultural Garden is located across from the American Indian Center on the Chapel Hill campus and lies next to the Carolina Community Garden.

Look for:

• The Medicine Wheel 

• The Prayer Tree

• The Ceremonial Gathering Space

• Eastern Red Cedar- Juniperus virginiana  

• Yaupon Holly – Ilex vomitoria

• Pecan Tree - Carya illinoinensis

• *Three Sisters – Corn, Squash, Beans

Created to celebrate Indigenous culture and to integrate traditional ecological knowledge, the garden enables students to engage in a culturally rooted space that can help them adjust to campus life. It also is used to serve as a teaching tool for the greater community

SUMMARY

The American Indian Cultural Garden on the UNC Chapel Hill campus offers an outdoor community gathering place affirming the state’s historic Native American presence. A joint effort of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the American Indian Center, the garden offers a green space replete with plants and infrastructure both native to the state of North Carolina and/or significant to the state’s recognized tribes. The site includes a gathering circle, a dogwood tree designated as a prayer tree, and a medicine wheel which appears across many tribal nations as a visual tool for meditation, guidance, prayer and healing. Also featured are beds of plants that are native to North Carolina and are also significant to the Indigenous peoples of this land. Located on campus across from the American Indian Center, the garden is next to the Carolina Community Garden.