Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama Blog

The Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama, in partnership with Jacksonville State University (JSU), Serenity Garden will serve as a Healing and Restorative Garden on its campus. It will offer students, faculty, staff, and visitors a serene space to enjoy the benefits of nature. The garden is behind Mason Hall; the garden's presence will expand CFNEA's network of 20 OSSP sites in Northeast Alabama, serving nine counties and elevating the region's national presence in the movement of nature-based community healing.

The space's inspiration comes from research into the mind/body that benefits individuals experience when spending time outdoors, such as a reduction in stress, increased memory and attention, regulation of mood, and an overall increased sense of well-being.

The space offers visitors a place to reconnect with nature and take a break from screens and landmarks symbolizing beauty, restoration, and recovery.

The garden will serve as a landmark symbolizing our recovery from the devastating tornado of 2018 and the global pandemic that profoundly affected our JSU community and beyond. The proposed plan includes three archway entrances leading into the space and a winding path.

A pergola with two bench seats will serve as the destination and attractive landscape, and JSU's first permanent outdoor sculpture art will enhance the sense of the garden's surroundings. Posts will provide a space for students to hang their hammocks.

JSU’s Department of Art and Design, Counseling Services, and Capital Planning and Facilities have designed the Serenity Garden behind Mason Hall.

Open Spaces Sacred Places™(OSSP) are spaces intended for the encouragement of community well-being and resilience of mind/body/spirit of both individuals and communities. These special places are conceived by an individual or organization inspired by the idea that access to nature can positively impact the various communities and personal challenges individuals and communities face. Behind each space is one or more “Firesouls” individuals with a burning passion to design and develop an OSSP. “These greenspaces will function as a place where our communities can enter, reflect, and encourage good health and well-being,” said Smith.