FREE GUIDED WALKING and CART TOURS
are offered twice a month on a Saturday morning
in April, May, June, September and October.
Check our calendar events for available tours.
Guided Tours
General Tours
Guided tours can be scheduled April through October.
Tours are approximately one mile in length and 1 to 1½ hours long.
A motorized vehicle is available upon request to accommodate those who may not wish to do a walking tour. Each vehicle holds five visitors and one tour guide.
General Guided Tours: $50 for up to 15 people, $5 for each additional person.
Motorized Carts: $15 for the use of one cart; there are two carts available.
To schedule a guided tour, email us at tours@laurelwoodarboretum.org. You will also need to submit this Guided Tour Application.
A Sculpture Trail Tours
A Sculpture Trail Guided Tours are led by Scott Broadfoot, curator of A Sculpture Trail, or a trained Laurelwood Arboretum docent.
Curator-led tour: $35 per person.
Docent-led tour: $50
Motorized Carts: $15 for the use of one cart; there are two carts available.
To schedule a guided tour, email us at tours@laurelwoodarboretum.org. You will also need to submit this Sculpture Trail Guided Tour Application.
Self-Guided Tours
Brochures and maps are available at the Notice Board in the Pines Lake Dr. West parking lot, as well as online with links following each description below.
General Cell Phone Tour
The General Arboretum Cell Phone Tour allows visitors to Laurelwood Arboretum, with cell phone in hand, to learn about the history and plantings of this unique natural park. This self-paced cell phone tour guides people from the Knippenberg Center for Education along many of the arboretum’s scenic paths, through natural and designed spaces, and back to the center. At each of the 19 tour stops, they can hear details of the history and horticulture of this special place.
The cell phone tour takes about one hour to complete, depending on the visitor’s walking pace and interests.
The Friends of Laurelwood Arboretum cell phone tour was made possible by a generous donation from the Ira A. Roschelle, MD Family Foundation.
A Sculpture Trail Cell Phone Tour
A Sculpture Trail Cell Phone Tour allows visitors to Laurelwood Arboretum, with cell phone in hand, to learn about each sculpture, its creator and its placement in the park. Cell Phone icons are located on interpretive sign posts at each of the 14 sculpture locations. This self-paced cell phone tour guides people from the Pavilion along many of the arboretum’s scenic paths, through natural and designed spaces, and back to the Pavilion. The sculpture trail cell phone tour takes about one hour to complete, depending on the visitor’s walking pace and interests.
Click here for A Sculpture Trail brochure with map and sculpture locations.
General Tour
The General Tour highlights the arboretum’s education buildings and the Native Plant Demonstration Garden and then follows the winding paths past the Sensory Garden, along Azalea Way, then passes the pond and memorial gazebo bringing one along Brook Road and Dorothy’s Way to the South Rock Garden, then circles back up Ridge Road which features handsome magnolias and hemlock trees and an extensive collection of rare rhododendrons, finally going down Easy Way and back to the Knippenberg Center for Education.
Sculpture Trail Tour
A Sculpture Trail features representative works from notable artists. To date, 14 sculptures have been selected and placed by our Curator, Scott A. Broadfoot with consideration to the varied plant life, water and topographical features in the park.
View/download A Sculpture Trail brochure with map and sculpture locations.
Native Plant Demonstration Garden
The Native Plant Demonstration Garden provides landscaping for the Knippenberg Education Complex and provides native habitats that support the environment and are suitable for the home landscape.
Native Tree Tour
The Native Tree Tour focuses on 20 of Laurelwood Arboretum’s most interesting and unusual trees that are native to New Jersey. Among these are the River Birch, Eastern Redcedar, White Oak, Mockernut Hickory, Chestnut Oak, Tulip Tree and Eastern Hemlock.
Exotic Tree Tour
The Exotic Tree Tour features 18 trees of foreign origin that were planted in the arboretum by Dorothy Knippenberg. These include beautiful specimens of Japanese Umbrella Tree, Cedar of Lebanon, Ginkgo, Katsura, and Dawn Redwood.