Tree Walk at Indian Hill Cemetery September 13

If you've never seen a Corsican pine, your opportunity awaits on Saturday, September 13th.
At ten o'clock that morning,  that morning, CT Notable Trees expert, Ed

Richardson, will lead a tree walk within Indian Hill Cemetery (at the intersection of Vine and Washington Streets), and you will see the only known specimen in Connecticut. Also on the list of trees are the state champion Pignut hickory, giant European beeches, London planes, Douglas firs and a Blue atlas cedar.

In all, the tour covers one mile of walking and 26 trees that will be identified and discussed. If you have walked (or trotted) with Ed and his sidekick, arborist John Kehoe, in the past, you know that you will hear fascinating tales of how these trees were chosen, why they thrive -- or not -- in our region in the first place.

The cemetery itself is a prime example of the so-called Rural Cemetery movement, begun in the early 1800's as a means to combine the growing necessity for burial sites with the amenity of parklands for urban-dwellers who could not afford landscaped vistas of their own. Famous cemeteries such as Mount Auburn, outside Boston, Forest Lawn in New York, and Cedar Hill in Hartford attracted equally famous and wealthy decedents by providing sweeping views and, often, imposing trees that were deemed appropriately mournful, such as dark, weeping beeches and spruces with pendulous branches.

Refreshments will be served at the end of the walk, and you may also have a chance to admire the Indian Hill Chapel, which will be undergoing restoration soon. Rain date is the same time, on Sunday, September 14th.