About Us
Here at Friends of Cohn Arboretum, we’re committed to investing our expertise and resources in order to further achieve our cause. Since July of 2018, we’ve been working to grow our organization and host community led events. We measure our success not by monetary size, but by more qualitative measurements such as the scale and effectiveness of our efforts. BREC has committed to restoring the historical bungalow in 2019, which is a huge step in the right direction. Just imagine what we could achieve if we had your support too!
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
Few sites are as pleasing overall as Cohn’s 16 acres. It is a chocolate box of interesting spaces. The outside of the chocolate box, Cohn’s perimeter, is shaped by a winding, deep, gorge-like steep ravine, two city streets, and one long country road with an iconic covered bridge. The inside of the chocolate box, its center, holds the Arts & Crafts bungalow and a circular pond. Surrounding the heart of the site are wonderful chocolates in the form of many individual, interesting spaces. These spaces are defined at their edges by a winding network of gentle, bowl-like depressions which are tributaries to White Bayou. These spaces make a serpentine hilly topography, which is strikingly different than the flat landscape of Southern Louisiana and creates a wonderland.
The vision that emerges is these spaces, chocolate pieces, are to be developed as garden rooms of individual flavors and experiences. Visitors will come to marvel over the color and the magnitude of plants and the new introductions of plant varieties. In this vision, there are three mutually reinforcing offerings Cohn Arboretum could give to East Baton Rouge Parish. First, Cohn presents a paradise, this horticultural wonder presented as a chocolate box of garden rooms. Secondly, Cohn establishes a new timepiece celebrating the Arts & Crafts era featuring a historical home and garden. And lastly, Cohn provides a Wellness Center that promotes health of mind, body and spirit.