The 2-acre Japanese Garden in Roger Williams Park was built by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1939. The original design concept consisted of three islands set within a man-made lake, surrounded by a granite block wall at the perimeter. Five bridges were installed to connect the islands to the mainland. The garden was updated in the 1960s by landscape architect Ralph Hartman, who studied garden design in Japan. Hartman added the “mountain” to the north of the garden, berms, the naturalist beach area, and an array of Japanese coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs.
