The Rock Garden is home to over 800 different types of alpine, dwarf, and woodland plants, making it the most intensively planted areas on the Smith campus. Created in 1897, and modeled after the rock garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, it is the oldest rock garden in North America.

The Rock Garden needs periodic renovation to maintain the sharp drainage most alpine plants require. In 1983, Gregory Armstrong and Ellen Shukis dug out the scree beds 6 to 8 feet deep and backfilled with gravel. Water flow over a natural clay bank creates an area with constant moving water in the moraine beds at the edge of the garden.