Mount St. Mary Park Arboretum

The Mount St. Mary Park Arboretum provides a 30 acre park with 1.5 miles of trails for residents to enjoy recreationally as enhanced by the arboretum’s 100+ trees, perennials, annual plantings and open turf areas. The park space originally housed a Catholic school, Mount St. Mary Academy, in the early 1900’s, which remained open until 1972. This park also hosts seating space to watch the 4th of July fireworks, and provides a beautiful arboricultural environment to view them. A few of the larger species groups included in the park’s tree inventory are 13 different oak species, 15 evergreens, and a large variety of ornamental trees. The Fox River runs along the entire length of the eastern end of the park, and many water-friendly species such as bald cypress, river birch and swamp oak line are planted there. One of the most stately and historic trees in the park is a bur oak, in the southeast corner, that has been identified as over 250 years old! Tree tours are offered for young and old, and details on upcoming events can be found in the St. Charles Park District’s quarterly catalog. This park offers community members a beautiful, safe and educational environment along the Fox River to enjoy nature and its many benefits.