Morikami Park is named after George Morikami, who donated the land for the park to Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County, Florida

Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...

. It is the site of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a center for Japanese arts and culture located west of Delray Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The campus includes two museum buildings, the Roji-en Japanese Gardens: Garden of the Drops of Dew, a bonsai garden, a museum gift shop and...

, the American Orchid Society Visitor Center and Botanical Garden, and the Biwa Pavilion, with group shelters and picnic tables. There is a nature trail through the undeveloped part of the park.

George Morikami

George Sukeji Morikami was a Japanese immigrant to the United States who farmed in Palm Beach County for more than 65 years. He donated his 200 acres (80 hectares) of farm land to Palm Beach County in 1973.

George Morikami was born in Miyazu, Japan. He was 19 years old when he emigrated to the United States in 1906 to join the Yamato Colony

Yamato Colony, Florida

The Yamato Colony was an attempt to create a community of Japanese farmers in what is now Boca Raton, Florida, early in the 20th century. With encouragement from Florida authorities, young Japanese men were recruited to farm in the colony...

, a Japanese farming community in what is now Boca Raton, Florida

Boca Raton, Florida

Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...

. When he joined the Yamato Colony, he was unmarried, and did not plan to stay long. Although the Yamato Colony ultimately failed, George Morikami stayed on and eventually prospered. He and other remaining Yamato colonists had their land seized by the United States as the U.S. entered World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when their land was taken to create an Army Air Corps

United States Army Air Corps

The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...

 training base (see also: Boca Raton Airport

Boca Raton Airport

Boca Raton Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located two miles northwest of the central business district of Boca Raton, a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States...

). Near the end of the war, George Morikami bought land in Delray Beach, Florida

Delray Beach, Florida

Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...

, and farmed it for almost thirty years.

George Morikami was in his 80s when he donated his land for a park. He died at age 89 in 1976, a year after the groundbreaking for Morikami Park. His ashes were eventually returned to Miyazu. There is a monument to him in the Japanese gardens in the park. Delray Beach is a Sister City to Miyazu in honor of George Morikami.

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a participant in public-private partnership between The Morikami, Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and Palm Beach County.

Private events can be booked at the park for $7,000+.

Admission is now only possible
by paying $12.