The trees planted in the Garden Woods were planted by minimum security inmates from the Old State Penitentiary in the 1960s when this was part of the prison nursery. The ‘Old Pen’ was in operation from 1870 to 1973. The back wall of the Garden Woods is constructed of sandstone quarried on Table Rock by the prisoners. This area now creates an inviting forest and provides shade to the picnic tables scattered beneath their canopy.