Forest, Farm + Garden, 1966 – 2016
The Campus Arboretum of Haywood Community College
Celebrating the First Fifty Years of Stewardship

(Guest post courtesy of Tamara Graham and Haywood Community College)

In 1966, A. L. Freedlander, then president of the Dayco Corporation, issued a challenge to the Haywood County community to match his donation to build a new campus for its local college, and transform the site of a former farm “into the most beautifully landscaped area in Haywood County.”

A half century later, the Campus Arboretum of Haywood Community College’s landscapes, gardens and expansive collections have indeed become “one of the most beautifully landscape areas in Haywood County.” The Arboretum’s collections, cultivated over decades by local naturalists, master horticulturists, work study students and community volunteers, have expanded to include productive greenhouses, a dahlia garden, an orchard, working vegetable gardens, a rhododendron garden, and a mill pond with operable grist mill – a tapestry of landscapes that together capture the heritage of the Blue Ridge mountains and its people. The Haywood Community College Foundation celebrates this legacy with “Forest, Farm + Garden, 1966 – 2016” an exhibit of recent photographs by Benjamin Porter and historic plans, maps and photographs documenting the site’s transformation over the past half century from open pastureland with a remnant stand of woodland to the lush, shaded Arboretum today.

This project has been made possible through generous gifts from the International Dendrology Society and individual members.  Proceeds from the sale of the exhibit catalog, photographs and posters will be used to further education, outreach and ongoing stewardship of the Campus Arboretum of Haywood Community College.

Mary Cornwell Gallery
Professional Crafts Building
Haywood Community College
October 1 – November 19, 2016

Reception: Tuesday, October 18, 2016, 5 – 7 PM