Spartanburg Community College is a public, suburban, two-year comprehensive, open-admission institution of higher education serving the citizens of the upstate counties of Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union in South Carolina. The College advances economic development of the region through programs, services and partnerships that address emerging and continuing employment needs in a rapidly changing global environment. Through excellence in teaching and learning, the College promotes lifelong learning and helps students reach their personal and professional goals.

    SCC Garden Railroad The Garden Railroad, located adjacent to the College’s Alumni Amphitheater, is the only operating, small-gauge train garden on a college campus in the nation. The 300-foot, dog-bone-shaped track includes an O-gauge model train, landscaping designed by SCC’s horticulture students, a bridge, waterfall and replicas of prominent Spartanburg businesses and landmarks.

The Garden Railroad began as an idea born from now-retired SCC horticulture department head, Jimmy Painter and horticulture instructors who felt the project would offer SCC horticulture students a learning opportunity to design a unique miniature plantings garden combined with the focal point of a scale-model railroad that would embrace the historical roots of Spartanburg and the Upstate, and allow for the reproduction of local landmarks as the backdrop for the garden.

    Horticulture Gardens SCC's Horticulture Gardens are one-of-a-kind, fully designed and maintained by SCC staff and students. The Gardens area  feature of the entire SCC Arboretum. The SCC Arboretum's mission is to provide an ongoing display of unique gardens, trees and plants, and horticulture environment that is used for educating former, current and future horticulture students as well as the regional horticulture industry and community members to the diversity of hardy plants for our piedmont region and southeast.

Spartanburg Community College’s Arboretum has a tremendous collection of trees, shrubs and perennials that are throughout the campus and intensified in our horticulture garden and several specialty niche gardens. Our niche gardens include an International Peace Garden, Plant Zoo, Medicinal Garden and Outdoor Train Garden. The arboretum serves to beautify our campus and provide a living laboratory for our students to learn plant identification, use, and maintenance.

 

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