The Courtyard
After passing through one of the Seven Great Gates of Ilvermorny and officially entering the school grounds, a visitor will find themselves in the courtyard before the castle itself. Dominating the courtyard, almost as tall now as the main building, stretches Isolt's snakewood tree, supposedly grown from the buried wand of Salazar Slytherin himself. Despite how it grows, however, the tree never blocks the stainedglass window visible on the higher floor of the main building depicting Isolt and her family beneath the snakewood tree. Beyond the tree, stairs rise into the main building, the great doors at the top flanked by well-cared for statues of Isolt Sayre and James Steward, both carved to be smiling happily and beckoning students into the school itself.
The Pukwudgies have transformed much of the courtyard into gardens strewn with walking paths with plenty of places to sit and admire the gardens (though students will often hear passing Pukwudgies - the caretakers, not the housemembers - complaining about students lazing about when they have better things to do).
One particularly well-cared for path leads to the tomb of Isolt herself; that particular path is avoided by most of the Pukwudgies who leave its care and maintenance to the eldest of their kind, known only by the name William.
