A public displaybotanical garden, Brookside Gardens, popular as a location for wedding couple photography, which utilizes an online reservation system for that purpose, is located on a portion of the park, having expanded over time from its initial footprint of in 1969. The gardens are known in the Washington metropolitan area for its seasonal Winter Garden of Lights show, garden railway exhibit, and Wings of Fancy live butterfly exhibit, along with its two perennial conservatories which house and cultivate tropical species.
Park facilities
The park is delineated into three named areas based upon the particular area's proximity to one of Wheaton Regional's three main entrances: the Shorefield Area for the Shorefield Road entrance, the Glenallan Area for the Glenallan Avenue entrance, and the Orebaugh Area for the Orebaugh Avenue entrance. Brookside Gardens is located in the Glenallan Area. Montgomery Parks provides various recreational facilities and activities at Wheaton Regional Park. These include:
The park includes the Harper Family Log House, as part of its Brookside Nature Center. This 1½ storylog cabin, historically known as the Richard ThomasHarper House, was built in the 1870s, in Poolesville, Maryland, located in western Montgomery County. In 1976, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission dismantled the house and reassembled it in Wheaton Regional Park, to serve as an exemplar of a pioneer cabin, for the United States Bicentennial. Throughout the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, the log house was the home of an African-American landowning family. It consisted of one downstairs room and two upstairs rooms. It had a large stone fireplace with a brick stack. The parents in the family raised a total of 15 children in this three room house, although not all of the children lived there at the same time. The park is also the home to the Ovid Hazen Wells Carousel and a miniature train. The Herschell Spillman carousel, constructed in 1915, by the Herschell Spillman Company, in North Tonawanda, New York, operated as the Smithsonian Carousel on the National Mall from April 12, 1967, until 1981. The musical carousel has 33 jumping horses, three zebras, and two chariots. It was purchased by the M–NCPPC and is on loan to Wheaton Regional Park, with its future home designated to be the Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park, in Clarksburg, Maryland, which is located in northern Montgomery County. The Wheaton Miniature Train is a replica of 1863 C. P. Huntington engine and passenger cars; it takes passengers on a short tour of the park. The train and carousel operate weekends only in April and September and daily from May through August.
