What began as a modest concrete fish pond in H.G. (Ben) Hartman’s back yard is now revered as a folk art masterpiece.
As a foundry worker laid-off during the Great Depression, Ben began work on his Garden in 1932. A decade later, his Garden consisted of over 250,000 individual stones combining a mixture of history, religion and depression-era pop culture.
Among The Hartman Rock Garden’s many unique attributes, the sheer scale of the work and its contextual location in a residential neighborhood contribute greatly to its status as an iconic “outsider” art site.
In 2008 The Kohler Foundation – renowned for their restoration of folk art sites – purchased the property and began a year-long restoration. With the process now complete, The Hartman Rock Garden again welcomes visitors to experience the site as Ben Hartman intended.