A Place for Reflection and Renewal
Anticipated completion: Summer 2025
Tucked just behind the Greg Poole, Jr. All Faiths Chapel, the Chapel Garden is being updated to better welcome visitors and offer more places to pause, reflect, and connect with nature at Dix Park.
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.
Today, the spirit of the original garden still shapes the space. Several legacy plantings—including a canopy of mature Japanese maples—continue to anchor the garden and provide a sense of continuity. Although the space was refreshed during the 2021 renovation of the Greg Poole Jr. All Faiths Chapel, this new phase of work builds on that effort by making the garden more usable and welcoming for everyday visitors.
The current project adds new seating areas, improves the paths, introduces a sculptural fountain, and enhances the planting palette with native and pollinator-friendly species. These updates are designed to make the space easier to enter, linger in, and enjoy, while honoring the legacy of the garden and the people who shaped it.
Project Goals
Create more opportunities for visitors to sit, rest, and spend time in the space
Improve access and visibility while keeping the garden’s original layout
Refresh planting beds with a mix of native and adapted species
Celebrate the garden’s legacy as a place of healing and care
Scope of Work
Add accessible seating and gathering areas
Regrade paths for improved access
Introduce a sculptural wall fountain as a new focal point
Expand and update planting beds with perennials, grasses, and shrubs
Preserve mature trees and key elements of the original design
Project Support
The renovation of the Healing Garden was made possible by family and friends in memory of John Spotswood Russell.
