Secret Garden in St. Paul, MN -- The St. Paul Cultural Garden

If it's a secret, I'm interested. So when I saw the article in the Rake Magazine entitled, "The Secret Garden," I knew I'd be going.

Rebecca Stack and I decided that we'd treat ourselves to the night out as a reward for having cleaned our offices -- a momentous task for the both of us -- and we decided to check out the Secret Garden of St. Paul once and for all.

The description in the Rake on where this garden was exactly was about as cryptic as it's actual location. We drove in circles...under a bridge and back again -- like the Rake wanted to keep it secret!

Now knowing the spot, I'd tell you to park at one of the meters in front of the Ramsey County Government Center (Red Brick Building) and, facing it, walk around the right hand side of the building (so you're walking toward the river). If you feel that you've left the "corner" that the Government Center sits on, you're in the wrong place. Here's an address and map:

Ramsey County Government Center East
160 East Kellogg Blvd (at Jackson Street)
St. Paul, MN 55101

And the photo (above), though stunning, was no help in locating it either because the depth and variety of the structures make it seem that there would be something to look for that would make it stick out somehow. Not so. The best you'll do is to look for a very low-to-the-ground, broad, cone-shaped structure. But you'll have to look carefully!

Turns out that this garden was a project of two of my writing mentors from the COMPAS Summer Writing Workshops (et. al.) when I was in Junior High and High School. Alas, the summer program no longer exists.

But this Secret Garden does.

Definitely a must-see for travelers to Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN tourists and residents alike.