About

Goodell Gardens & Homestead is a non-profit botanical garden and accredited arboretum located in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. The purpose of Goodell Gardens & Homestead is to create an education-oriented botanical garden and arboretum on the 78-acre Goodell family farm by emulating the Goodell family passion for gardening and horticulture.

Goodell Gardens & Homestead was created at the behest of Carrie and Margaret Goodell, the sole remaining heirs to the Goodell family in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Upon their passing, the Goodell sisters arranged for the institution of a small endowment, held as a donor-designated fund at the Erie Community Foundation, intended to afford the start-up capital necessary to begin implementing the stated wish that their farm be developed as a public garden. Goodell Gardens & Homestead was, thus, incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2001, and has since operated within its stated mission under the direction of its Board of Directors.

The Garden’s historic relevance is derived from the farmstead property belonging to the Goodell family since 1876 (originally purchased by the sisters’ grandfather George Goodell). The Goodell family is also interlaced with the origins of Edinboro, as they were involved in early business, political and educational developments. From a horticultural perspective, the Goodell Heritage Garden is historically significant in the diversity of cultivated plant species held, along with its being a representative of American old-fashioned or heirloom gardening in general.