I had the pleasure of visiting the Slayton Arboretum recently and I was very happy and surprised with what I found there!
Let me share my visit with you and, hopefully, you’ll want to go on your own adventure…
The Facts First
Slayton Arboretum is a 14 acre park located next to the Hillsdale College campus. The park is a bit Monet-esque in it’s appearance with wooden bridges, waterfalls, gazebos, man-made ponds and a spring-fed natural pond that is filled with water lilies, turtles and other aquatic creatures.
The land was donated in 1922 by Mr. and Mrs. George Slayton to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their graduation from the college. Over the years features have been added, as well as a bit more land, to create the arboretum we can now enjoy.
The arboretum depends on the public and volunteers to help maintain the beauty of the park.
Park Rules
As with most venues, Slayton Arboretum has a few rules to follow. I’ll type them out here since it may be difficult to read them from the photo I took
- Keep gates closed at all times. Be sure to close gates when entering/leaving Slayton Arboretum
- Do not litter. Use trash containers that are provided in several areas of the Arb
- Do not smoke
- Respect and obey posted signage throughout the Arb, and stay on trails
- Do not take any plants or wildlife from the Arb
- NO PETS ARE ALLOWED (leashed or unleashed) in the Arb
- Do not engage in aggressive play in the Arb, including play and/or immersion in any water feature (e.g. pond or waterfall). Please respect the surrounding plant life and the memorial areas by not climbing or affixing items to any tree
- Respect and observe the posted public hours of Slayton Arboretum
The Arb Code of Conduct is located near the gate if you would like to read it in person
Parking
Before any adventure, I spend a lot of time studying maps for parking information, directions and just generally familiarizing myself with the surroundings. I had read many reviewers talk about the difficulty of finding parking but, honestly, we parked across the road with no problems. For reference, I went on a Friday morning…and unlike most campus’, Hillsdale College does hold classes on Fridays
I can see though, that going on the weekends could be a different story. The lot we were in had a lot of students parking in it as overflow parking. Take a couple minutes to see where additional, non-registered/visitor parking is located and make sure you are prepared to walk a couple blocks if needed.
My Experience At The Arb
We arrived at Slayton Arboretum around 11:30 and suprisingly, the grass was still quite wet from a heavy fog the night before but I immediately fell in love with the park. When I say it was very reminiscent of a Monet painting, I am not exaggerating!
Along the gate is a stone house that is titled “The Little Stone Lab” that is adorable. There are benches if you would like to sit and enjoy the view of the park, too. Actually, there are benches spread all over so don’t worry if you need to sit occasionally or just want to take in the peacefulness. Trust me, you will want to do that…
From the stone house you can go pretty much anywhere your heart wants to take you. If you go to the left you will find a trail that takes you to the ampitheatre and another pond. Here is where they have garden parties, wedding receptions, concerts and more. They were setting up for a garden party on the day we were there and it was truly a lovely spot.
The Main Attraction
Directly in front of you after you enter the Arb is a pond, waterfalls and at the top of that hill is the stone gazebo. CAUTION! The steps up to the gazebo are stone and not evenly spaced or even at the same height from the next one so please watch your step. There are no handrails, either.
The reward for making the uneven climb is a specatular view! Besides the gazebo, there is a bench and to right of the down trail, you will find a stone sitting area, great for more pictures of the view below.
Take A Walk On The Wild-ish Side
To the right of the waterfalls is a trail that leads to walking paths beside another pond on the property that is situated more in the woods. This is not a smooth trail or, in some spots, even cleared. We stepped over fallen tree branches in a few places.
For the most part, this part of the park is enjoyable for many but wear good walking shoes! I wore tennis shoes for the first time in a year but my friend, Pam, had worn sandals – which I would have done too normally – but we found out the hard way that the steep hill in the back was not meant for such footwear. Between hyperventilating laughter (that hill was so STEEP) and Pam’s sandals deciding they were against the climb and trying to make an escape, we almost didn’t make it to the top! As it is, there was no way to make it back down the equally steep other side without sliding on our backsides the entire way! Luckily there was a trail off to the right that took us back down at a much less strenuous pace.
Cost For The Day
Entry into Slayton Arboretum is FREE and it is open to the public from dawn until dusk.
After The Park
After we spent a couple of hours here and decided it was time to head on out, we knew it was also time for some lunch! Hillsdale has a few restaurants and after deciding we didn’t want fast food, we chose to try out the Hillsdale Brewing Co. We were both glad we did too!
The restaurant has only been in business for four years but with the quality of fare they offer, it will be here for a long time…simply delicious!
Something to be aware of…the restaurant is in an old house that has been converted near the railroad tracks and the parking is not convenient. There is overflow parking along the railroad tracks but it was all a bit of a pain. The food makes up for the troublesome parking though!
The meal, with tax and tip, came to $33. Considering the last time my husband wanted KFC and I paid over $40 for that, this was well worth the money!
Where’s The Map?
Last Views
While You’re In Hillsdale
If you are visiting Hillsdale next week (last week of September) don’t forget to spend some time enjoying the absolute best county fair in Michigan (yes, I’m bias)!!
Learn more about the fair by reading my blog post from last year. Click HERE
**NOTE-ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE THE PROPERTY OF IVA JOHNSON AND CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. ALL IMAGES ARE WATERMARKED