The farm served as a retreat for the family, who also had a home in Columbus, and a place to nurture trees and plant specimens collected from around the world.

Beman and Bertie Dawes created the foundation "to encourage the planting of forest and ornamental trees ... to give pleasure to the public and education to the youth.

The Japanese Garden, designed by landscape architect Dr. Makoto Nakamura in 1963, includes a reflecting pond and meditation area.

[9] The arboretum features one of the northernmost native bald-cypress swamps in North America, which visitors can walk through on a boardwalk.

The area was restored into a diverse ecosystem, and mammals, birds and insects make the wetlands their home.