Orson Hyde Garden Grows Outside, Jerusalem

The walkways and amphitheater are built and the donations keep coming for the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden near Jerusalem.

More than three-fourths of the one million dollars needed to complete the park has already been donated to the Orson Hyde Foundation, which is sponsoring the garden on the west slope of the Mount of Olives. Many Church members and others have contributed to the fund, says Elder LeGrand Richards, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and president of the Orson Hyde Foundation.

“We get donations every day—anywhere from $1 to $5,000,” says Elder Richards. “The penny of the widow is equal to the gold piece of the rich man.” Sunday School, seminary, and institute groups are among those donating. Names of contributors will be placed in a capsule sealed behind the wall surrounding the amphitheater.

The garden commemorates a prayer given by Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1841 dedicating the land of Palestine for the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the latter days. Excerpts from his prayer—which was given at the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith—are inscribed in English and Hebrew on heroic-size plaques in a grottolike setting.

Part of the Jerusalem National Park, the five-and-one-quarter-acre garden joins more than six hundred acres of gardens surrounding and protecting the walls of the Old City.

Groundwork and planting remain to be done on the garden, which is scheduled for completion in 1979. Besides the walkways and amphitheater, a water system has been installed, and thirteen olive trees—one for each president of the Church and one for Elder Richards—were planted there in May 1978. Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated the trees, which were planted by Irvin Nelson, former chief landscape architect for the Church.

The park is significant to Church members and nonmembers alike, since Jerusalem is a holy city for people of many faiths. David B. Galbraith, counselor in the Jerusalem District of the Church and resident director of Brigham Young University’s Jerusalem Semester Abroad program, explains:

“I see in this garden a generous gift on the part of the members of the Church through the Orson Hyde Foundation, towards the beautification of this holy city, Jerusalem. I can’t imagine a better way to express our feelings toward Jerusalem than by contributing to the development of a spiritual garden on the Mount of Olives, to be enjoyed by Moslem, Christian, and Jew alike.”

Elder Richards says that the garden not only acquaints people with Elder Hyde’s prayer, but it helps people in Jerusalem realize that they’re in the land partly as a fulfillment of the prayer.

Information about the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden can be obtained from Orson Hyde Foundation, LeGrand Richards, President, 47 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150. Contributions, which are tax deductible, also can be sent to that address.