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Immerse Yourself In Beauty & Nature

Nestled on Capitol Hill above Charleston, West Virginia, within the grounds of Spring Hill Cemetery, The Mary Price Ratrie Arboretum offers tailored trails and historic grounds featuring some of the most fascinating plants and captivating views of the city.

The overriding goal is to make the Arboretum an educational resource for students and the public. The continued addition of native and ornamentals to the existing stock of mature trees, gives a place for horticulturists to view plants and expand knowledge on plants they may not be familiar with. Pollinator gardens and native habitat provide environmental education spaces.

  • Fringe Tree

    Champion Trees

    The Ratrie Arboretum is home to four West Virginia State Champion Trees, and several that claim 2nd and 3rd spots for their species. These are trees that have been measured and recorded by the West Virginia Division of Forestry as being the largest of their kind in the State.
    - Chamaecyparis pisifera – Sawara False Cypress
    - Quercus stellata – Post Oak
    - Chionanthus virginicus – Fringe tree
    - Quercus falcata – Southern Red Oak

    Honorable mentions.

    - Pinus echinate – Shortleaf Pine
    - Diospyros virginiana – Common Persimmon
    - Sassafras albidum – Sassafras

  • Monarch Butterfly

    Wildlife Habitat

    The Noah Jarrell Monarch Way Station is a perennial and annual flower garden with plants selected that host and feed butterflies.
    Conservation Corner adjacent to the garden, is a wild area of open meadow, with some additional shrub and tree plantings. A short, mulched path winds through it and makes this diverse habitat accessible.
    The Cemetery contains pockets of, and bordered by woods; providing habitat for a multitude of wildlife

  • Yellow Bird Magnolia

    Discover Beauty

    Explore:

    - 5 miles of internal roads
    - Monuments to Charleston’s History
    - Views, Birds, and Wildlife
    - Wooded Trails
    - Mature Native and Ornamental trees

    Newley Planted:

    - Magnolia Collection
    - Asian Plant Collection
    - Witch Hazel Collection
    - Viburnum Collection

  • Dogwood Fall Color

    Value Trees

    Trees are important to the health of the Kanawha Valley by manufacturing oxygen, sequestering carbon dioxide and some airborne pollutants, and preventing stormwater runoff. They provide food and shelter for birds and wildlife. They support and are supported by a multitude of insect, bacterial, and fungi species. The Arboretum itself can be thought of as a complex organism.