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Top: Volunteers, Palmer family members and more toured the Palmer Arboretum Aug. 22. Courtesy photo. Left, Bill Brower, chairman of the arboretum board, points out the original false cypress grove, planted 100 years ago. Linda Lemmon photo.

 

Arboretum Kin

Relatives of arboretum founder, Minnie Palmer Dean, left to right: Betty Poulin, Beverly Prosser, Stephen Moran and little Robyn Prosser Moran. Linda Lemmon photo.

 

Volunteerism

lauded at

arboretum

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

WOODSTOCK --- At every turn of the Palmer Arboretum, the handiwork of volunteers thrilled those touring the 100-year old tree-filled jewel.

Bill Brower, chairman of the arboretum board, conducted a enthusiastic tour for relatives of founder Minnie Palmer Dean. Beverly Prosser, who was visiting from the London area with her husband Stephen Moran and child Robyn Prosser Moran,  said she was "thrilled so many volunteers have put all the time into the arboretum, to take care of it."

Volunteerism is alive and well at the arboretum. Volunteers from Scout troops and schools and more regularly come to the arboretum to help. In addition, he said, Linda Kaplan, UConn master gardener, continues to install her native plant shade garden. Mary St. Onge and Amy Driscoll, also UConn master gardeners, will be planting a garden of daylilies and daffodils. 

In addition, Brower said, Master naturalists Mike Ellsworth, Philippa Paquette, Cheryl Dziura-Duke from the Goodwin Preserve and UConn master gardener, Mary Ellen Ellsworth, are finishing the identification of trees in the arboretum and the trees on the Hill Common. They plan to use the 25 most interesting trees to make a self-guided tour map of the park.

A native shrub planting in the spring area is being planned by David Schroeder, UConn emeritus. 

Brower joked that when he joined the board years ago, he read all the back minutes for the arboretum board and each year, for 25 years, they intended to clear the spring area. Finally with the help of volunteers, including Matt Sheldon, the spring area has blossomed.  Sheldon created wooden bridges and furniture throughout from downed trees. 

Brower said they planted a 100th anniversary tree, a Dawn Redwood this summer. 

Betty Poulin, Dean's great-great-great niece, was sent, as a child, by her mother to weed the arboretum. She said "Our family is thrilled with how Bill Brower, Matt Sheldon and so many hard-working volunteers have transformed the arboretum from an overgrown wilderness into the beautiful garden it is today. " She added that the family is "so grateful" for all the volunteers' hard work. "We hope it will allow future generations to continue to enjoy the wonderful natural treasurers the Palmer Arboretum holds."  

Minerva (Minnie) Palmer Dean created the arboretum in 1914 and gave it to the town in Woodstock in 1915. She also built the small concert/lecture Hall, Palmer Memorial Hall, in honor of her father, Samuel Palmer, a minister, and her grandfather, Hezekial Palmer, a noted Woodstock carpenter. She offered Palmer Hall to Woodstock but the town refused the gift, said Brower. In her will in 1925 she left the hall and the adjoining arboretum to the town and that hall served as a town hall for Woodstock for many years.  The original acreage of the arboretum was 5 acres; it is now down to 2 acres.