What 40 People Who Love the NC Arboretum Want You to See

Photo by Wes Hicks (@sickhews) on Unsplash

By Jon Tharp, Broker  ·  May 28, 2026

The people who know the NC Arboretum best have been handed cameras and turned loose on the grounds. What they brought back is the exhibition.

The North Carolina Arboretum, tucked against the Blue Ridge Parkway just off I-26 south of Asheville in Buncombe County, is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a photography project outside its typical programming. Forty people with real, ongoing connections to the place, staff, long-time volunteers, and members, were each given a small point-and-shoot digital camera and sent out to photograph whatever mattered most to them. The resulting exhibition, The Arb in Focus: 40 Views for 40 Years, is on display through September 12, 2026. From Franklin, it's about an hour and fifteen minutes north on US-441.

What makes this photography exhibition different from what you'd expect?

Most gardens photograph beautifully. That's not the point here.

The collection that came back from these 40 participants captures the Arboretum the way insiders actually experience it: quiet corners of the formal gardens that visitors walk past without stopping, candid moments on the trails, and what it takes to keep 434 acres running through every season. The beauty is there, but so is the operational and the incidental.

That's a harder thing to fake than a well-composed shot of the bonsai garden.

Why does the 40th anniversary matter for this region?

The Arboretum opened in 1986 as part of the UNC system, built on land within the Pisgah National Forest along the Parkway corridor. It sits at an unusual intersection: it's a formal horticultural institution surrounded by federal wilderness, serving both the local community and the roughly 10 million visitors who travel the Blue Ridge Parkway each year.

Forty years is a generation. Many of the staff and longtime volunteers photographed for this exhibition have spent a significant part of their working lives on these grounds. The anniversary project is partly a celebration and partly an act of documentation, a way of preserving institutional memory in a format that anyone can walk through.

What should you know before planning a visit?

The Arboretum is open daily, with the Arb in Focus exhibition running through September 12. There's a vehicle fee for parking, but once you're in, access to the trails, formal gardens, and gallery spaces is included.

Summer at the Arboretum runs warm but rarely brutal at that elevation. The trail network offers about 10 miles of options across varying terrain, with the more formal display areas concentrated near the visitor center. If you're making a day of it from somewhere farther south like Sylva, Murphy, or Andrews, it pairs well with a stop in Brevard or the Asheville River Arts District on the way home.

What happens after the exhibition closes?

The cameras don't get shelved. After the project wraps, they go directly to the Education department for use in Discovery summer camps, where kids visiting the grounds use them to document their own experience of the place. An anniversary project generates equipment for a youth education program, and the two are connected by design.

That kind of thinking is part of what has kept the Arboretum relevant over four decades in Western North Carolina, not just as a botanical attraction but as something the local community actually uses.

If a place this rooted in the landscape of WNC has you thinking about what it would mean to live closer to it, Jon is happy to walk you through what the area looks like for buyers right now.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Arb in Focus: 40 Views for 40 Years?

The Arb in Focus is a photography exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. Forty people with personal connections to the Arboretum, including staff, long-time volunteers, and members, were each given a small point-and-shoot digital camera and sent onto the grounds to photograph whatever mattered most to them. The result is a collection of hundreds of images that capture both the formal gardens and the quieter, everyday moments that define what it actually feels like to spend time there. The exhibition runs through September 12, 2026.

Where is the NC Arboretum and how do I get there?

The North Carolina Arboretum is located at 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way in Asheville, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near milepost 393. From downtown Asheville, it's about a 15-minute drive south on I-26 to the Parkway connector. From Franklin, it's roughly 70 miles north via US-441, about an hour and 15 minutes depending on traffic and mountain road conditions. Parking requires a vehicle fee, and the grounds are open daily. The formal gardens, trails, and indoor spaces are all accessible within a single visit.

Is the NC Arboretum worth visiting in 2026?

Yes, and 2026 is a particularly good year to go. The Arboretum is marking its 40th anniversary with programming, exhibits, and the ongoing Arb in Focus photography installation, which runs through September 12. Beyond the anniversary events, the 434-acre property along the Blue Ridge Parkway offers rotating seasonal gardens, 10 miles of hiking and biking trails, and regular workshops through its Education department. The grounds are open year-round, with summer and fall typically drawing the most visitors for garden color and trail conditions.

What happens to the cameras after The Arb in Focus exhibit ends?

After the photography project wraps up, the cameras used by participating staff, volunteers, and members will be donated to the Arboretum's Education department for use in its Discovery summer camps. That program serves children and families visiting the grounds. It's a practical example of how the Arboretum builds programs around what it already has, using a celebratory anniversary project to generate reusable resources for its youth education work. It also means the cameras end up back in the hands of people learning to see the landscape for the first time.

How long has the NC Arboretum been open, and what is its history?

The North Carolina Arboretum opened in 1986 as a part of the University of North Carolina system, though planning for it began years earlier. It was established on land within the Pisgah National Forest, adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, putting it in a uniquely layered position as a cultural and horticultural institution surrounded by federal public land. Over four decades it has grown to include formal display gardens, a bonsai exhibition garden, extensive trail networks, an education center, and research programs. The 40th anniversary in 2026 marks a significant milestone for an institution that has become one of the most visited natural attractions in the Southern Appalachians.