Hatcher Garden

In 1969 Josephine and Harold Hatcher decided to retire to Spartanburg, South Carolina, from Indianapolis, Indiana, where they had lived for over thirty years. They came south partly because of the warmer weather and the seasonal changes that make gardening a delightful endeavor and also because their daughter Alice and her family lived here.

The Hatchers purchased a home with a small lot on Briarwood Road on the west side of town. From their small back yard they could see that the wooded area behind their house was covered with tall pines, mature hardwoods, and even a stream. The land itself had once been home to cotton fields, was badly eroded, and had become a dumping ground for local trash, but even so, the Hatchers could see that it had great potential.

Soon after moving, Harold expanded his property by purchasing three acres behind his
lot for $2000 and he began to convert the old, worn-out cotton fields into usable land
for his gardening projects. The Hatchers then started spending all of their spare time
filling in the eroded gullies, amending the soil, building paths and ponds, and planting
over 10,000 trees, shrubs, and flowers.

As the garden continued to grow through the 1970s, members of the Spartanburg Men's Garden Club, the Spartanburg Garden Club Council, Spartanburg Community College, and the Unitarian Universalist Church became intrigued with the Hatchers' vision for their garden and began to volunteer their time and resources to support the garden's development.

The Mission of Hatcher Garden and Woodland Preserve is to provide a place where the public can come for inspiration, enjoyment and education through the study of nature.

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