This place is so gorgeous. My current relationship started here so this place is dear to my heart. anytime Im in town (live in waynesboro) with friends I always ask them if theyve been here & take them if they havent. Perfect for a peaceful walk through the trails and to get out of the house and enjoy beautiful scenery. Highly recommend taking the time to stop here if youve never been

Fantastic place to enjoy the outdoors without the sun beating down on you. Several Hills to climb and challenges and like the balance beam log.

Beautiful, I mean, absolutely amazing park. Dont skip out on it. Perfect date spot

Nice place to walk with kids. The duck pool is my kids fav! Its free to enter. There are few picnic shelters and many sitting places on the trail to rest.

This is such a pretty and relaxing place to visit. Met up with some friends and had a picnic lunch. Its dog friendly which was great since we were visiting from out of state and had our dog with us. Nice pathways to walk on.

This is a lovely place to visit in fall. The education center is only open on weekdays, but the bathrooms are open on the weekends and weekdays. I loved the meditation labrinith, herb garden, and the shale garden.

A beautiful place to spend a relaxing few hours, they have walkway around the pond, trails back in the wooded area. It has plenty of benches to sit and a pavilion with picnic tables. In the pond you can see turtles, fish, and ducks.

This place is absolutely free. It is tranquil and gorgeous. There are some unique things along the paths. Worth the walk around. Dont forget to see the duck pond.

This place is amazing! You need at least a couple hours to really explore all the nooks and crannies of the garden. Aside from the garden, there are really pretty songbirds in the trees. The ducks at the pond let you get really close to them.

Really pretty and I went in November. I bet spring is nice too.

Its the best park ever in Harrisonburg to get some fresh air, walk and enjoy the amazing view .

This is definitely a place where I would want to go back to in spring or fall. We, including my 2- and 4year old, had a great time walking around, exploring the arboretum. We loved the ducks, the big rocks by the water, the suspension bridge. The kids area was great, balancing on the big tree and just looking at everything.Very nice area in a probably very busy place during the week.I can only recommend a visit if you are in the area!The bathrooms were not open, we went on a Sunday.

Nice trial. Good walk. Free parking

Beautiful place to walk around. Kid friendly which was really nice. Cannot wait to come back and walk to some of the places I missed. My two year old loved the pond with the koi, turtles and ducks (his favorites)!

Beautiful little place tucked into the city. Lovely array of flowers, a pond, some play areas. Must visit for a stroll and enjoying the evening.

Shaded coolness in the middle of summer. Im not a big parks/hiking guy, but this was nice, even with a stroller.

Nice walk during fall, two over flow parkings available.

Love it here. Regardless of the time of year its a great place to walk around and take in the fresh air. The area is big enough to do whatever you want to in terms of distance. Its a great place to come and relax by the pond as well. If you are in the are in the warmer time of the year this is definitely a good place to stop by and see everything nature has to offer.

Beautiful and FREE urban green space. Spent time here just enjoying the peace

Try it out! Beautiful setting, fun outing with kids. We had fun.

Very nice small nature reserve, enough space for kids to play hike and have fun. Nice short trails for light hiking. Very enclosed you would not realize you are close to JMU campus.

Beautiful grounds and well maintained. Some limits on flora make this a 4 not 5 garden. Plenty of greenery. Very much needs more color. Friendly volunteer staff.

Great pond with wildlife including frogs, ducks, geese and turtles. Many great trails and flowers as well.

Beautiful arboretum. A lovely place to walk around or run through with lots of trails. There is a pavilion for events and other seating areas. Parking is a little limited, but there are JMU lots nearby to park in.

A small treasure in the city. Escape without going anywhere! The childrens play area is nice and the lake. The trails are wood chip covered.

What a lovely arboretum. The plantings, walking trails, art-in-place, and natural spaces all delight.

It soon beautiful and a good place to relax

Had a great evening here with friends.

Bring corn or peas to feed the fish! Kids love it, easy trails.

Such a beautiful place, has a nice short walking path around the gardens, plus places to sit.

Relatively peaceful. Good paths in their natural state. Paths are mostly flat with some moderate inclines (which were optional). Plenty of flora and fauna, wetlands, pond, streams, forest, bridges & benches.

Lovely walk on warm fall day!

We love one of our favorite spots in harrisonburg to take our daughter #vi0letteverse cosplay pictures

Beautifully kept gardens and paths are well maintained.

Beautiful! Highly recommend stopping in if youre in the area!

Beautiful park, a real gem for HB.

This is a lovely arboretum. Wonderful paths though the trees. Also a nice meditation labyrinth.

An amazing place to spend time with family and friends !!!! To read a book, to take pictures !!!!! ....

We had a really fun time. My daughter absolutely loved it and we went on the fairy and gnome walk. She even had a chance to build a fairy home to attract fairies in the forest. only items found in the forest and nothing man-made were used to construct the fairy homes and hopes of attracting future fairies. There was a small group of us and we had two stories read to us before we started out in the forest and it was cute as could be. If you have little ones I highly recommend that it was a lot of fun.

Oh absolutely beautiful place

Beautiful! Walking trails. Lots of benches. Several different gardens.

There isnt much to see during the winter but the trails are well maintained. I bet spring is gorgeous!

The first time I walked into JMUs Edith J. Carrier Arboretum, I was a prospective student looking at JMU. After having lived here for a few years, it has undergone big changes, but remains one of my favorite places to spend an hour or two.The arboretum can be divided into three sections. There is a spiraling garden, a large lake surrounded by trees, flowers, and walking paths, and a trail through the woods with different bridges over a small stream.The arboretum is a great place to take pets as well, as there are almost always dogs on leash, walking with their owners. I take my dog there a couple times a week, and he loves to sniff around. There are families of ducks, and nature is thriving, with koi fish in the pond. Additionally, there are community events every now and then, and the space can be rented out for private events, such as weddings, or receptions. The only downside to the arboretum, which is minimal, is the lack of parking. This however, is more-so a fault of the parking at JMU in general.

The arboretum is beautiful, informative, and very well cared for! We love visiting.

Parking is tight, but the grounds are gorgeous!

Its absolutely beautiful here! And they encourage you to feed the ducks! Im a frequent visitor for the ducks and the pokemon go stops and gyms.The employees are super knowledgeable and keep the area lookong amazing.Its definitely a highlight of JMU.[P.S. dont feed ducks bread!]

Love visiting the arboretum! I attended JMU but never really knew about it and didnt start visiting until after I had graduated. There are trails that go through the wooded area with plenty of beautiful flowers, bathrooms, and a building that hosts events throughout the year.

Growing each year! Love all the color!

Still good for a walk, but a tired shadow of its former self. Needs some love and care. Rose garden is all but gone. It is not much more than a water retention basin.Someone tried to do something with the herb garden. The memorial gardens seemed to be cleared out. Kind of sad.

Botanical garden with walking trails.

This is the best place to stroll or jog in all of Harrisonburg. If you have not been here, know that it is a absolute hidden gem at any time of the year. Beautifully maintained and artfully crafted.

This is a very nice park for being on campus. It was a little more wooded than I had expected and they could use to mark the trails a little better, but overall its a nice place to visit.

First visit and enjoyed the perennial gardens and signage along paths. During our midmorning visit we noticed numerous families strolling too. Parking was problematic but when we viewed grounds map there was a larger parking lot. Road signs would have been helpful to inform new-to-area drivers of this. Also taking place was their fall bulb sale which we found several unique bulbs to take with us. Our last caveat was it is a short distance from Interstate 81. It will be our new stop when motoring on I 81.

Great place .spent about 2 hr.

Theyve added so many new things here in the last years. A labyrinth, a kids area. So many different gardens, with lots of fores and space in-between. Kept up very well, too.

Beautiful place for a walk, very well taken care of

We had a meeting and potluck meal there. We were supposed to meet at the Pavilion, but it was unseasonably cold. The Arboretum was kind enough to allow us to move our meeting to their office building. It was smaller than the Pavilion, but we were able to have the get together out of the weather! The director was pleasant and helpful.

Beautiful place for family photos, ducks in the pond. Rope bridge and a creek when you walk up the hill, carved figures, bench, and paintings. A magical little place

Beautifully maintained arboretum. Nice time with family there

Child loves it here!

Lovely, lively, peaceful, wonderful... Walk is wonderful in autumn and winter absolute peace.

We come here often. Beautiful foliage, interesting wildlife, well landscaped, quiet little oasis in the middle of Harrisonburg. Had our wedding reception there as well.Visitor/education center is informative and well maintained with clean restrooms and drinking fountains. The picnic shelters are conveniently located and also well cleaned/maintained.If there is one issue, its parking. Spaces are limited. There are small parking lots on both ends of the trail loop. If they are full, you can always park across the street in the JMU parking lots and walk a short distance.

Beautiful place the coy are amazing. My pup felt right at home walking around and meeting the ducks who were very nice. Besides the flooded path by the water all was green there.

Just love looking at Gods flowers ️

The staff was so friendly and helpful! This visit was our first time and we loved all that the arboretum had to offer. Even in the off-season, when most of the flowers are not in bloom, its a lovely walk. We especially enjoyed the opportunity to hang an ornament on one of the trees for the holiday season - how fun! Looking forward to seeing it all in bloom someday!

Great place for a quiet walk. Was visiting the area and stayed for a week in a nearby hotel. This was part of my daily walk.

A wonderful place to relax and view nature in all its glory. They have ducks, geese, turtles, koi fish and chipmunks. Its such a beautiful sight. They offer trails throughout the park.

I love walking around the arboretum with my family! It’s a good place to take a lunch break too. As others have said, parking is limited, so sometimes you have to park on the main road and walk down.

Exceptional serene spot. We stopped by on our way home from Washington DC, and we still keep talking about it. You can go relax,walk, meditate, or read a book. I know where in Virginia I will be taking a break on my future road trips.

Peaceful and serene

Leaves were turning bright yellow. Nice place to hike

Beautiful mulch and dirt trails with lots of plant species and little animals. Lots of signage that is pretty informative on the ecosystems, etc.

Amazing park

So beautiful and quiet!

Amazing and beautiful park for the price (0 dollar). Highly recommend for families with young children.

Really enjoyed exploring the arboretum today. Only took a couple hours to walk all the trails but still a great way to spend the day outside.

Great place to hike even tho youre on campus it feels like youre out in nature

Beautiful grounds, some wheelchair /stroller friendly paths, but its a really long path for the restrooms! Two of the three parking entrances are narrow.

Very beautiful

Beautiful park. Nice people

Beautiful place. Id love to return when everything is in bloom but I loved it today. Wonderful trails. Beautiful green plants; interesting to read the signs and learn!

This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! Thank You!

I used to walk through this park every day when I lived in Harrisonburg. Excellent walking trails, beautiful scenery. You can almost always catch some ducks hanging out in the pond during springtime.

One of our favorite places for a quick hike, better place to waste time than the mall.

This is a great place to connect with nature and it doesnt even feel like its in the middle of a city a lot of the time. You can see all sorts of birds, small mammals, fish, and frogs.They recently added a childrens garden with a sand pit to play in near the shelter. This park is picturesque; perfect for weddings, birthdays, graduation or prom photos, etc.

Wow, incredible loveliness tucked into the city. Enjoyed doing Tai Chi there. And seeing the labyrinth.

A great place for walking, jogging, or relaxing on a sunny day. Acres of trails, a beautiful lake surrounded by spectacular trees.

I wish we werent caught by the rain. We will be back to take a walk in this beautiful place.

Clean and BEAUTIFUL!!! Great place to walk and relax.

What a great place to see many native plant species of Virginia, and best of all its absolutely free to visit.. great for a picnic spot or take the kids. Lots of trails and a creek and pond with much to see. If you are in Harrisonburg definitely put this on your schedule of things to do and see!

Such a beautiful place, so tranquil.

So beautiful that I proposed to my wife here. The arboretum does a great job of focusing on native plants and the sales are a great opportunity. The landscaping is enchanting and regularly updated.

Peaceful

Favorite place to be when in the city!! Best trail and beautiful, graceful nature and displays.

Love it like looking at all the animals and flowers

Love going here with my family. Lots of pokemon and

Beautiful and free

This is a hidden gem in the middle of Harrisonburg. Whenever I go here I always chastise myself for not going more often. This time I sat on a bench in the woods while a flock of ducks fanned out all around me digging for tasty morsels in the underbrush. It made me happy to see college couples coming here for romantic walks together. I didnt know they did that kind of thing anymore...

Good place if you have 45 minutes to be in nature; stay in the area around the lake. It is landscaped and enjoyable. Turtles and ducks and gardeners. All the wooded areas are unremarkable. Lots of bugs, bites and monotonous trees.

Beautiful spot