Mill River Park Cherry Grove

Visit the Cherry Tree Grove

Mill River Park’s Cherry Trees are not just a beautiful sight to behold in early April and May, when the Park explodes into beautiful tints of pink and white cherry blossoms. These beautiful trees have a rich history, and were given as a gift to Stamford as a way to celebrate community resilience.

Cherry Blossom Tours at Mill River Park

Experience the beauty of cherry blossom season at Mill River Park starting this April. Visitors can explore the park’s blooming cherry trees and learn about their history, pollinators, and the story behind them through two guided tour options.

Private Group Tours

Private group tours are led by one of our park educators, a plant and pollinator expert Tours are available on weekdays throughout April and can be scheduled at your convenience, based on availability. Private tours are $10 per person with a minimum of 10 participants. Groups with fewer than 10 guests will be charged the minimum fee of $100.

To schedule a private group tour, please email education@millriverpark.org.

Public Cherry Blossom Tours

Free public tours will be offered on weekends in April at 11 AM and 2 PM. These tours are led by Mill River Park’s docents and highlight the park’s cherry trees and their unique story.

Public tours are limited to 10 participants and run on a first-come, first-served basis with no registration required. If you’d like to join, please visit the Whittingham Discovery Center on a weekend between 11 AM and 2 PM.

History of the Cherry Tree Grove

Junzo Nojima, the donor of the original cherry trees, moved to Stamford from Japan in 1926, where he opened one of Stamford’s first Japanese-American owned restaurants. In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, life in the United States was incredibly difficult for Japanese-Americans due to internment camps, loss of property, and discrimination. Here in Stamford, vandals smashed the windows and wrecked Mr. Nojima’s restaurant. In reaction, community members rallied around Mr. Nojima and helped clean up the damage.

The comminity’s response so touched Mr. Nojima that he donated over 100 cherry blossom trees to Stamford. The cherry blossom trees, a traditional Japanese symbol of renewal, were planted where Mill River Park is today.

During the Park restoration, the US Army Corps of Engineers needed to remove some of the older cherry blossom trees. In honor of Mr. Nojima’s gift, cuttings were taken from those trees and grown into 28 new trees, allowing Mr. Nojima’s spirit of appreciation to live on.