On November 1, 2024, the Hanover Conservancy accepted the gift of a conservation easement on Nathan’s Garden, a beloved neighborhood green space in the southwestern corner of town. This acre of naturalized landscape adds another bead to the “green necklace” surrounding downtown Hanover envisioned by the Conservancy’s founders in 1961.
Created in 1991 by the Hall family, Nathan’s Garden honors the memory of Nathan Hall. Located less than half a mile from downtown and Dartmouth College, the garden has become a favorite retreat for residents, students, and visitors looking for a moment of peace, quiet, and reflection. With its mature trees and understory, the garden offers stopover habitat for birds migrating along the Connecticut River to and from their summer breeding grounds in Hanover’s uplands. The shaded green space offers air temperature and quality modulation in this densely settled part of town and provides stormwater capture. Nathan’s Garden provides an ecological link to the Conservancy’s Mink Brook Nature Preserve and the Town of Hanover’s Mink Brook Natural Area, South Esker, Pine Knoll Cemetery, Tanzi Tract, and River Trail.
The garden boasts an impressive array of species, both naturalized plantings and native volunteers. Towering pines and tamaracks, delicate fall-blooming witchhazel, and an arching tulip tree are just a few examples of what you might find. Nathan’s Garden was named the Wildflower Garden of the Year in 1999 by the New England Wildflower Society (now the Native Plant Trust), the oldest plant conservation organization in the United States. Forty species of wildflowers occur here.
Several paths cross the garden, allowing visitors to explore it from a number of vantage points. An octagonal gazebo overlooking the garden, a small children’s play space, and several seating areas with rustic benches and tables dot the property.
The conserved land currently remains under private ownership, but is part of a generous planned bequest to the Town of Hanover, who will own and maintain the garden in the future. The Hanover Conservancy is proud to have played a role in ensuring this neighborhood treasure is protected forever, enabling future generations to stumble upon, visit, and fall in love with the garden for years to come. Nathan’s Garden is open from dawn to dusk.
How to get there
Nathan’s Garden is located at 35 Maple Street. From the Dartmouth College Green, head south on Main Street for two blocks, before turning right on Maple Street. A limited number of parking spaces are available in front of 3 Downing Road.
The Garden is located just steps from the entrance to the Town of Hanover’s River Trail, providing a lovely start or end to a walk along the river.
Several paths wind their way playfully across the garden, including a gravel main entry, flagstone stairs, and dirt footpaths. Benches and tables are positioned at several scenic spots.
Nathan’s Garden is open to the public as a space of peace and reflection, from dawn until dusk. Please respect neighbors’ privacy and property while visiting.
The Hanover Conservancy accepted a conservation easement on Nathan’s Garden in November 2024, the end of a decade-long process to ensure its natural and community values were protected forever. In 2014, Hanover residents voted to accept a future bequest of the property to the Town of Hanover.
Nathan’s Garden was established by the Hall family, Barbara, David, and Jenny-Lynn, in 1991, to honor the life of their son and brother, Nathan.
Winding paths lead to a rustic, octagonal gazebo overlooking the garden. For many years, the Hall family has maintained an open, community journal here, where visitors share their thoughts and reflections about the garden, stories of their life, and artistic creations.
In the warmer seasons, a charming water feature babbles at the center of the property, adding to a peaceful soundscape of birdsong and the wind through trees.
A stone’s throw from the Connecticut River, Nathan’s Garden provides important stopover habitat for migrating birds. Visit in all seasons to see and hear an ever-changing variety of feathered friends.
In addition to a pleasing mix of native volunteers and naturalized plantings, the garden is home to an impressive variety of native wildflowers, and was named the New England Wildflower Society’s (now Native Plant Trust) Wildflower Garden of the Year in 1999.
