A historic garden, renewed for a new generation of visitors
Completed Fall 2025
Tucked behind the Greg Poole, Jr. All Faiths Chapel, the Chapel Healing Garden is a quiet pocket of Dorothea Dix Park, shaped by more than seventy years of care. A 2025 renewal added new seating, refreshed pathways, a sculptural fountain, and a richer mix of native plantings, all designed to make the garden easier to enter, linger in, and return to.
The Chapel Garden has deep roots in Raleigh’s history. After Hurricane Hazel destroyed the hospital’s greenhouse in 1954, the Raleigh Garden Club envisioned a new therapeutic garden for patients at Dorothea Dix Hospital. Club members raised funds, brought in landscape architect Richard C. Bell, and built a peaceful space filled with soft colors, year-round plantings, and thoughtful design. A sundial marked the hour, and nearly every plant was labeled. The garden opened to acclaim, earning national recognition and becoming a destination on statewide garden tours.
The spirit of the original garden still shapes the space. A canopy of mature Japanese Maples and other legacy plantings anchor the design, providing continuity with what the Raleigh Garden Club built in the 1950s. The 2025 renewal builds on a lighter refresh completed alongside the Chapel renovation, expanding what the garden offers to everyday visitors.
New seating areas invite longer stays. Regraded paths improve access. A sculptural wall fountain anchors the space as a new focal point, and the planting palette has been expanded with native perennials, grasses, and shrubs that support pollinators and add year-round interest.
About the renovation
The new Chapel Healing Garden provides:
Accessible seating and gathering areas tucked among mature Japanese maples and legacy plantings
A sculptural wall fountain as a quiet focal point
Regraded pathways that make the garden easier to enter and move through
Expanded planting beds with native perennials, grasses, and shrubs that support pollinators and bring year-round interest
Preserved elements of the original 1950s design by landscape architect Richard C. Bell
Project Support
The renovation of the Healing Garden was made possible by family and friends in memory of John Spotswood Russell.
