CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — Fort Williams is home to one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world, but it's also home to a stunning children's garden full of beautiful flowers and winding paths for little feet to run and explore.
Nestled in the back of Fort Williams Park, the 1 1/2 acre garden was designed for children to explore nature while enjoying physical play.
"This whole garden has all kinds of nooks and crannies and little paths to run through, and sort of smell the plants, feel the sun on your skin, going through things, hide out in the shade, look for frogs. It's incredible," Head Landscape Gardener Alex Donka said.
After crawling through a tunnel with Todd Gutner, Donka explained that the garden has a lot of educational opportunities for adults as well. Not only is the garden full of flowers, it's a haven for birds and butterflies as well. There's even a beautifully crafted birdhouse that was built to protect finches and eastern bluebirds from starlings.
"There are belted kingfishers that cruise the woodland. You just saw the red-tailed hawk flying overhead," Donka explained. "Monarchs are a big visitor. They, of course, look for various species of milkweed to lay their eggs on to continue their progeny. They'll, of course, fly around with other butterflies looking for nectar from all the flying perennials just to fuel them for the year."
Many people and businesses came together to make the garden happen. It opened in September of 2016 and was designed by Sashie Misner of Mitchell & Associates along with site work by L.P. Murray & Sons. Construction, stonework, and planting of trees and shrubs were provided by Linkel Construction with Miranda Winter. Pollinator meadow and perennial plantings were designed by James McCain (Friends of Fort Williams Park's executive director), with planting by Alex Donka and Janice Gardner (landscape staff), along with help from many wonderful volunteers. Bio-filter pond and stream were created by Robin’s Nest, while the tree lookout fort was created by Three Stone Landscape. The stainless steel handrail was built by DSO Creative, and the sliding stone was designed by Freshwater Stone.