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High atop a hill overlooking Avalon Bay is a place where you can sit and listen to the silence. Wrigley Botanic Garden and Memorial (shown in photos) was built to honor the chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley, Jr., who once owned most of Catalina Island. He purchased it in 1919 with money made from his chewing gum empire. When he died on January 26, 1932, at age 70, he was interred near his Catalina home in a tower in the botanical garden. Wrigley’s body has been moved to a cemetery in L.A. but his original grave memorial marker still reminds visitors hiking to the top of the botanic garden path that the beautiful place once was owned by a single man!

If he could speak, he’d probably offer you a stick of chewing gum. Wrigley was a clever marketer behind ideas such as sending a sample stick of gum to every household in U.S. phone books! Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden is open to the public and is operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy. It contains unique cacti and many plants endemic to the island. A small fee is charged for admission.