Waterfront Botanical Gardens Louisville,KY

The Waterfront Botanical Gardens is an urban botanical garden located at 1435 Frankfort Avenue near downtown Louisville, KY. It used to be a landfill and now is a beautiful garden. It was started in 1993 to help enlighten, entertain, and educate the community about the botanical world. It showcases the native species of the region. Admission is free with a suggested donation to support the gardens growth as it is a nonprofit organization. It has 23- acres. At this point their future growth includes building a Bonsai House. The plan is to build five outdoor rooms inspired by the elements of Japanese philosophy of water, earth, fire, wind and space. It will showcase the 40 plus bonsai tree collection. They also plan on creating a Beargrass Creek overlook. This will offer stunning views of the surrounding landscape and allow visitors to connect with nature. A little history of the area, in the 1800s it used to be a street lined with summer homes of prosperous French families. Floods in Louisville in 1832 and 1845 caused serious damage and destroyed many of these houses. Continuous flooding left this area to eventually be called The Ohio Street Dump. Then in 1973 the city followed the EPA rules and turned it into a landfill.