A Sculpture Garden Sunday

Lehigh’s campus is known for the outdoor art sculptures permanently installed all over it. The entire campus is basically a huge sculpture garden. But most people — including many Lehigh folks — have no idea about the sculpture garden that is the Alferd Packard Memorial Garden. This is a student sculpture garden (no famous artists’ installations here — at least, they aren’t famous yet), and much of the art uses up-cycled trash and/or makes a social/political statement. It is tucked away deep in the woods, only accessible by pathways off the beaten track, and rarely does it have visitors.

Our family, however, visits it quite a bit. It is one of Meera’s favorite places on campus. And lucky for us, we can reach it by a trail that runs through the woods connecting Sayre to the sculpture garden. It is a long hike for a five year old (we think it is probably more than a mile each way, although we haven’t measured it), along a path that is actually a mountain biking trail (one of many that zig-zag and criss-cross throughout the hundreds of acres of woodland on South Mountain that make up a large portion of Lehigh’s campus). But the woods are full of adventures and explorations and amazing finds (like the incredible wintertime mushrooms we discovered on this trip). It is a great Sunday outing for us, especially since it requires no car whatsoever!