Sacred Places
The Beehive Peace Garden
A place to find peace alone and in fellowship, on a string of reclaimed lots in Johnston Square.
WHERE
Baltimore, MD
SETTING
Neighborhood
PARTNER INSTITUTION
Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Organization
Visit
Where it is
1326 Wilcox St, Baltimore, MD 21202
What happens here
Young people come after school to a space that is theirs to be comfortable in. Neighbors bring their own meditative practices to the ground, which range from art to movement, and the garden holds both: active or quiet, alone or in a group.
HOW IT CAME TO BE
The trains beneath made it a garden.
Drag to see the transformation.
01
The Need
Johnston Square sits in the geographic heart of Baltimore and is one of dozens of hyper-segregated "Black Butterfly" neighborhoods carrying generations of disinvestment, population loss, and extreme poverty. It remains among the city's most distressed areas. This stretch along Hoffman and Wilcox was a string of vacant lots, turf and nothing else.
02
The Vision
Focus groups of neighborhood residents and stakeholders drove the design. They named the young population as the priority: adults and young people alike returned to the idea of somewhere youth would feel comfortable after school. Residents also described a wide range of meditative practices, from art to movement, which is why the design had to offer choices rather than a single use — flexible ground that works actively or quietly, for a group or one person. Rebuild Johnston Square framed all of it around one aim, that neighbors find peace both within themselves and within fellowship, and that the garden reflect, even subtly, the investment the community has made in itself.
03
The Transformation
The lots were unbuildable — CSX trains run directly beneath them, which rules out anything but green space. The design works with that rather than against it, favoring simplicity, affordable classic furnishings, and minimal hardscape. A concrete pathway now connects the two adjacent streets, with a pergola at its midpoint. A sinuous aggregate walking loop journeys through brightly colored native plantings drawn from Johnston Square's established plant palette, so the garden reads as continuous with the neighborhood rather than inserted into it. Boulders scattered through the plantings and bee-yellow custom Johnston Square benches along the pathway give people places to sit and slow down. RJSNO's Junior Green Team put many of the plantings in the ground, and the Green Spring Valley Garden Club — a long-standing partner that greened the earlier lots — supplied materials, labor, and design, and will handle long-term maintenance.
WHO TENDS IT
Ryan Jeffries
Firesoul, The Beehive Peace Garden
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Debbie Cameron
Firesoul, The Beehive Peace Garden
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Regina Hammond
Firesoul, The Beehive Peace Garden
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Barbara Bolden
Firesoul, The Beehive Peace Garden
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HEAR FROM THE VISITORS
From the Little Yellow Journal
Thanks Bench,
Me and my partner found you, well you found us in which you gave us a peace of mind to love each other an enjoy the weather an everything around us. Thanks, see you again
– Love, The Shorty Family
