A Fitting Arbor Day

On a warm Arbor Day, with birds hopping gaily through the grass, students, faculty, staff, and alums converged on the Library Lawn under the shadow of Vassar’s world-famous London Plane tree. This wasn’t just any Arbor Day celebration—it was the official kickoff of the College’s 100th Anniversary of its cherished Arboretum.

President Elizabeth Bradley took to the microphone—first to thank the Arboretum Centennial co-chairs: Director of Sustainability Kenneth Foster and Art History professor Yvonne Elet. She gave a quick rundown on the 1925 founding of the Arboretum, which is commonly attributed to the efforts of landscape architect Beatrix Farrand and less commonly to Vassar botany professor Edith Roberts.

The Arboretum is not one discrete location; it consists of three areas. The forested and marshy areas around the Fonteyn and Casperkill creeks, including the area between Olmsted and Skinner Halls that Edith Roberts long ago made into the Dutchess County Outdoor Ecological Library, constitute one area. The Preserve at Vassar, the 525-acre expanse located across Hooker Avenue, offers another, wilder ecological experience, featuring hiking trails, Vassar Farm, and a field station for research. But it’s the central campus, comprising the trees that are specifically labeled for educational and informational purposes, that is the crown jewel of the Arboretum, where trees are carefully curated and tended to create a living work of natural beauty.

The afternoon continued with a self-guided “gratitude walk” among the trees, which offered visitors the chance to stroll through campus, past Noyes and Cushing and down to Sunset Lake.

Back on the Library Lawn, members of the Vassar Artists’ Group were creatively painting wooden benches to be placed around the Preserve, and Foster was giving away an abundance of tree-shaped cookies.

Mental health was top of mind. Wendy Maragh Taylor, Associate Dean of the College for Student Growth and Engagement, reminded the crowd that the day was also a “Community Care” day, first launched during the COVID pandemic so students could lift their spirits by interacting outdoors. At a nearby table, a student hosted a station for Vassar’s Counseling Service, handing out a flyer on the mental health benefits of nature. The messages fit right in with a new initiative, Vassar Nature Rx, launched as part of the Campus Nature Rx Network, which describes itself as “a coalition of colleges and universities dedicated to nurturing healthy, nature-connected campus communities through inclusive and equitable nature engagement teaching, research, and outreach.”

The afternoon would have felt incomplete without acknowledging the grounds crew who keep the campus beautiful and the trees healthy. They were honored in front of the beech tree planted in memory of Superintendent of Grounds Henry Downer, who held the position at the founding of the arboretum.

Just a few steps away from the beech tree stood a small Eastern Redbud sapling planted in a freshly dug patch of soil—the latest addition to the campus Arboretum and the class tree commemorating the Class of 2027. The class tree tradition dates back to the Class of 1868.

As the afternoon came to a close, students and an eclectic group of local clergy, led by Sam Speers, Vassar’s recently retired Associate Dean of the College for Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices, offered interfaith prayers and songs to suit the moment. —Greg Costello ’00

The Centennial celebration of the Vassar Arboretum continues all year. To learn more about the activities and events, visit vassar.edu/arboretum.