One of the strangest tourist attractions in Springfield, Ohio is the Hartman Rock Garden — a small oasis of art as unexpected as it is delightful. Open year round, from dusk-to-dawn, this little garden in the middle of a nondescript neighborhood on the south side of town, has no real reason to exist. But we are really glad that it does.
We first visited the Hartman Rock Gardens about six years ago, with our niece who was just four at the time. As it turns out, there are two perfect ages to appreciate this place: four and forty. Ten-year-olds are already too busy with their phones. Twenty- and thirty-somethings are far too hip for weird religious rock art. But what four-year-olds share with forty-somethings is that they [don’t yet / no longer] care about being cool. We and our niece had a great time here.
During our most recent trip to Springfield, we decided to return to the Hartman Rock Garden. One of the things we love about this place is that it’s free. Not because we’re cheap — I mean, we are cheap, but that’s not the point. The lack of any type of entry fee, even a token dollar, speaks to the ethos of the garden and its belief in Hartman’s idea of “Art for Everyone”.
Ben and Mary Hartman were a working class couple who moved to Springfield in 1912. After being laid off from his job, Ben occupied his time by populating his garden with little characters and scenes fashioned out of stone. It started as a lark, but soon became a passion, and by the time he died in 1946, his garden was packed with hundreds of figurines in scenes ranging from Noah’s Ark to the Oregon Trail. Mary kept the garden going, until her own death in 1997 — by this point, it had become a underground sensation, attracting thousands of visitors.
Happily, the garden didn’t disappear with the passing of its original proprietors. It’s run today by the philanthropic Kohler Foundation, who have kept it open and free for everyone.
How much you enjoy the garden depends entirely upon how much you’re into quirky roadside attractions. Basically, if you’re the kind of person who insists on a detour after seeing a billboard advertising the World’s Largest Ball of Yarn, you’ll probably love this place. It’s not like the figures are going to win any awards for their lifelike rendering or artistic merit, and the heavy focus on Christianity is a bit much, but the sheer energy and love which Ben Hartman poured into his garden is inspiring.
From our Travel Blog.
