Historic Bartram's Garden
54th St. & Lindbergh Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
(215) 729-5281 • School Programs 729-5281 x110
www.bartramsgarden.org

This historic botanical garden is the nation's first, planted by pioneer botanist, John Bartram. Here visitors will enjoy a tour of this beautiful garden brimming with the plants that Bartram loved and collected from Europe and around North America.

The property includes the Bartram House, a stone mansion designed and crafted by John Bartram between 1730 and 1770. The classically inspired facade features hand-carved inscriptions and floral designs. Fourteen rooms are furnished with 18th and early 19th Philadelphia decorative arts and items owned and used by Bartram.

The Garden includes rare, unusual and antique plant specimens. Visitors will enjoy the Kitchen Garden, Period Flower Beds, and the 15-acre Wildflower Meadow. The Garden also includes several outbuildings that can be toured, and a stroll to the banks of the Delaware will reveal John Bartram's cider press, carved from bedrock.

From spring through winter Bartram's Garden offers a variety of special events, including workshops, seasonal tours, lectures, and other activities that can be enjoyed by the entire family. Call for a calendar.

Groups can participate in one or more of many unique tours. A Guided Tour can include the Bartram House alone or the House and Garden (30 and 90 minutes respectively). A 2-hour Tea Tour includes an old fashioned afternoon tea, with biscuits, scones and home-made preserves. The Guns and Gardens Tour combines nearby Fort Mifflin (see elsewhere in this guide). A variety of other tour packages assures that virtually any adult group will find something to enjoy here. Required group sizes begin at 10 for the simpler tours to 20 for Guns and Gardens to as high as 50 for a boat tour of the Schuylkill River Heritage Corridor. Adult Groups can also participate in various Workshops, covering topics such as Apiculture, Ornithology, and others.

A variety of programs is available for School Groups. The following represent the types of programs offered:

• Animal Camouflage (grades K-6) reveals the clever disguises animals use to escape notice, and why they do it. Students design their own unique camouflage.
• In Branch Out! (grades 3 and up), students learn how to identify the trees in the garden, and they get to take home a beautiful leaf print postcard that they make.
• The Real Scoop on Soil (grades 3 and up) is a hands-on program that illustrates the important relationships between soil and the creatures that live in it and includes an experiment to determine what type of soil is best for seeds kids can grow in the classroom.
• Birds of Prey (grades 4 and up) takes advantage of the Garden's diverse habitats to explore the world of raptors.

Many other programs are available covering a wide range of topics. Visit the Garden's official website, linked above, or call for further details. While program specifics may change, there will always be something fun and educational in the fields of Plants and Horticulture and Animals and the Environment.

Some programs may be seasonal.

Most programs last about 2 hours and can accommodate a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 90 students. One adult chaperone per 10 students is required.