Miniature trains rolling into Holden Arboretum
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Roxanne Washington
Plain Dealer Reporter
The fun of gardening and watching miniature trains
comes together Sunday at the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland.
"Holden Express: A Garden Railroad" features G-gauge model trains
traveling more than 2,000 linear feet of track over scaled re-creations of
some of the area's landmark bridges and past Holden's historic barns, all
in a flowering garden setting.
With the exception of the trains and the track, everything in the
summer-long exhibit was created by landscape architect Paul Busse, with
natural materials and native plants and vegetation.
The railroads were created by Applied Imagination, a
Kentucky-based firm that, working with Busse, has presented botanical
gardens in Atlanta, New Orleans, and the U.S. Botanical Garden in
Washington, D.C.
Holden's garden railroad includes replicas of four Cleveland landmark
bridges, including the Detroit-Superior (Veterans Memorial) Bridge,
Lorain-Carnegie (Hope Memorial) Bridge, Main Avenue (Burton Memorial)
Bridge and the Inner Belt Bridge.
Replicas of 10 of Ashtabula's historic covered bridges are the Benetka
Road Bridge, Doyle Road Bridge, Graham Road Bridge, Harpersfield Bridge,
Mechanicsville Bridge, Olin Bridge, Riverdale Road Bridge, Root Road
Bridge, South Denmark Road Bridge and the Wiswell Road Bridge.
An activity trail accompanying the exhibit -- "Railroads through
Landscapes and Time" -- helps visitors discover how railroads shaped the
American landscape.
Another highlight is the trail leading from the Display Garden, around
Lotus Pond, past the Holden Wildflower Garden through the Prairie Garden
and the Ponderosa Pines to the Katharine H. Thayer Center.
Yet another, learning how railroads created a demand for lumber and made
harvesting it easier, takes a closer look at the soil through the eyes of
a homesteader in the 1870s, discovering how railroad right of ways
provided a safe haven for prairie plants, and learning how former railroad
corridors have become pathways for hikers and cyclists, providing a site
for recreation and fitness activities while offering people easy access to
nature.
Each weekend will feature family-friendly activities. On two Holden
Express weekends in particular --July 14 and 15 and Aug. 18 and 19 --
visitors can discover how to create a garden railroad in their own back
yard. The exhibit ends Sunday, Sept. 23.
Holden Arboretum, 9500 Sperry Road, Kirtland.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Admission: Free for members, $6 for nonmembers. Children 2 to 5, $2. Free
for children under 2. Seniors 60 and older, $5, free for seniors on
Tuesdays. Call: 440-946-4400. Web site:
www.holdenarb.org |