The Connecticut College Arboretum (originally the Connecticut Arboretum) was established in 1931 on a 64-acre parcel of land on Williams Street, just to the west of the campus. Seeking a new head of the College’s Botany department, President Katharine Blunt believed an arboretum would be an attractive incentive, both as a research facility for the College and as a community resource for the residents of New London.

“Fertile in soil and charming in outlook,” this tract of “rolling hills and little valleys,” with its craggy granite ledges, bogs, red maple swamp, pine plantations, and hemlock groves, quickly became a favored natural escape for picnickers, hikers, and nature lovers from the College and town alike. In April 1931, Blunt hired New York landscape architect A.F. Brinckerhoff to design a preliminary plan for an arboretum, and appointed newly-hired botany professor George Avery as the Arboretum’s first director.

Tasked with the early development and growth of the Arboretum, Avery focused his efforts on establishing a Native Plant Collection, building greenhouses for research, and developing educational efforts and a membership base to help offset operating costs. When Avery left in 1944 for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the University of Rochester’s Dr. Richard Goodwin was hired to head both the Arboretum and the Botany department. Goodwin oversaw the growth of the Arboretum from 90 acres to more than 450 acres to the west, north, and northeast of campus. Educational and research programs expanded under Goodwin’s tenure, as well. In 1952, the Bolleswood tract was established as a site for long-term ecological studies, and a year later, plant ecologist Dr. William Niering was hired to supervise the ecological research program. Over the course of the next two decades, Goodwin and Niering championed land conservation efforts, working with local industrial manufacturers, utilities companies, and the general public to preserve natural areas and protect the region’s tidal and freshwater wetlands. They also worked to establish environmental studies (originally human ecology) as a fully-fledged major program within the botany department in 1969. Dr. Niering became director of the Arboretum in 1965, a position he held until 1988, when Glenn Dreyer was hired as the first full-time administrative director and Niering began coordinating research activities. Dreyer changed the name, from the Connecticut Arboretum to the Connecticut College Arboretum, developed an institutional mission, and in 1996, helped develop a campus planning effort that incorporated all Connecticut College land and property – including the main campus – as part of the Arboretum.

References Arboretum Bulletin No. 28 - The Connecticut Arboretum: Its First Fifty Years 1931-1981. New London: Connecticut College, 1981. Arboretum Bulletin No. 32 - The Connecticut College Arboretum: Its Sixth Decade and a Detailed History of the Land. New London: Connecticut College, 1991. Dreyer, Glenn. “History of the Arboretum.” Connecticut College, n.d. Web.