A specific way to experience Holbrook is through the Sachem Public Library: gardening, children’s discovery, and library history each offer a different focus. The Community Garden Project and Discovery Grove represent different activities: participation in gardening on the one hand, and playful experiences for children on the other. The opening of the new library building adds a historical connection to these themes. When choosing what to explore, you might therefore consider whether you are more interested in gardening, child-focused discovery, or the library’s history.
Garden Project and Outdoor Classroom
The Community Garden Project invites visitors of all ages to take part in gardening, growing food, and caring for the garden. Its hands-on focus includes both cultivation and garden maintenance. Compared with the explicitly child-focused activities at Discovery Grove, the invitation is broader—a useful distinction when choosing between the offerings based on their respective focuses.
The project includes an outdoor classroom with seating and meeting areas for visitors. It also provides space for library events, classes, and outdoor gatherings. Thus, alongside cultivation and maintenance, the project can also be used for conversations, learning activities, and community gatherings outdoors. The Community Garden Project’s landscape is ADA-compliant. The outdoor classroom and gardening activities have different focuses: spending time and connecting here, hands-on work in the garden there.
Discover and Play at Discovery Grove
At Discovery Grove, children can watch water flow at the water table, explore objects that float and sink, and see how water turns soil into mud. This creates a connected focus on nature: water is not just observed but explored through its effects on objects and soil. When choosing between the library’s offerings, this is a different way to participate than planting seeds or caring for the garden.
While digging, children can explore the different textures of soil, sand, and mulch, and look for insects or earthworms. There is also a mud kitchen, where they can play at cooking and baking with mud and sand. For art activities, mud, pinecones, and sticks serve as materials. Play with natural materials thus ranges from exploring their textures to imaginative role-play and making art. Mud connects two different Grove activities: it is used both for cooking and baking play in the mud kitchen and as an art material.
Music, building, and movement add to the choices at Discovery Grove. Children can make music with a marimba and drums; a large set of building blocks is also available. There is a large rock to jump on and tree-trunk stepping stones to climb. In the Grove garden, activities range from sowing seeds to harvesting.
A Look at the Library’s History
The history of the Sachem Public Library includes the opening of its new building in Holbrook in 1966. This library history adds a clearly dated perspective to the gardening and play activities. It offers a distinct way to explore the area, alongside gardening or activities for children.
Discover more destinations: Greenport, Shirley, Bellport, Montauk, Fishers Island, East Marion, Port Jefferson Station, Holtsville.
For the broader travel overview: Suffolk.
