Healing Garden

The Healing Garden is a peaceful, living memorial honoring the 267 Staten Islanders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Located along a gentle, forested hillside, this one-acre woodland space offers visitors a quiet place to pause, reflect, and connect with nature’s restorative power. It also serves as a beautiful entrance to Snug Harbor’s expansive wetlands, guiding visitors from the center of campus into one of our most ecologically rich landscapes.

As you follow the garden’s winding paths, you’ll move through a thoughtfully planted mix of native trees, shrubs, and perennials. These native species—such as red oak, sassafras, willow, cherry, and understory companions—do more than provide seasonal beauty. Native plants play an essential ecological role: they support local pollinators, stabilize soil, improve water quality, and provide food and habitat for wildlife that depend on them to survive. In this way, the Healing Garden functions both as a memorial and as a thriving ecosystem.

Benches placed throughout the landscape invite you to linger among the calming foliage, which shifts in character from spring’s soft greens to autumn’s vivid display. From the hillside, you can look out over 20 acres of protected wetlands, a reminder of how deeply interconnected this garden is with Snug Harbor’s broader natural environment.

At the center of the space, the stone Wall of Remembrance features four cast-iron faces in an ancient Roman grotesque style. Water flows gently from each face into a reflecting pool, symbolizing the four seasons and the ongoing cycle of life—an ever-present theme in this contemplative space.

Completed in 2008 and free for all to visit, the Healing Garden offers a meaningful blend of remembrance, nature, and renewal. Whether you are beginning your journey toward the wetlands, experiencing the garden on its own, or seeking a quiet moment of reflection, the space welcomes you with open pathways and open arms.