Project Highlight: Camp Kum-Ba-Yah Sensory Garden

Creating a Natural, Healing Space in the Heart of Lynchburg

At Lynchburg’s Camp Kum-Ba-Yah Nature Center, a new sensory garden has taken shape thanks to a community grant. Designed as a place of healing, recreation, and education, the garden offers visitors of all ages the chance to experience nature through sight, sound, touch, and scent.

Sensory gardens are known to lower stress, encourage mindfulness, and improve well-being. They provide hands-on learning for children, therapeutic engagement for older adults, and restorative experiences for anyone seeking a deeper connection with nature.

The compacted clay soils and persistent deer pressure at the site called for resilient plant choices. We selected tough, dependable species and planted them in naturalistic drifts, creating contrasts of texture and color. Herbs, a gentle fountain, and the sounds of wind chimes heighten the sensory experience.

A fallen cedar tree on site became an unexpected resource. With the help of local friends at a mill, the logs were transformed into lumber for a hand-built pergola, now standing as a shaded gathering space within the garden.

The result is an immersive garden—rooted in resilience, shaped by our local community, and designed to nurture connection with the natural world.

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After