Happy Arbor Day! This beautiful campus we live and work in was first referred to as an arboretum in May 1879, and today there are approximately 190 species of trees and shrubs in the arboretum. Visit the Vanderbilt Arboretum Website for more information, and to find self-guided tree tours, including the Historic Tree Tour created in 2020 as part of a Buchanan Library Fellowship. The Historic Tour features associated “story pages” that go with the tree pages, unlike the other tours. In the Notes section for each tree, there is a “history page” link in the text. Clicking on that link takes you to a separate page on the arboretum website that provides additional text and photographs that tells more details about the tree, historical persons associated with the tree, and about buildings and other features of the campus that were or are linked to that tree. Additional tree tours are the Main Campus Tour, the Peabody Tour, and the Trail of Giants Tour. The tours may be taken remotely through the website or in person, and are all designed to make use of portable devices. An iPad is optimal, although smart phones also work well.
What are you waiting for? Celebrate Arbor Day by learning a bit about the many beautiful trees on Vanderbilt’s campus. Then wow your friends and family by introducing them to the tree that is older than the University and the tree that has a single branch that stretches 21 meters (69 feet).