SummEr/FAll 2011 - Nazareth College

Nazareth | heritage
They Speak
for the Trees
by Robyn Rime
The oak tree outside
Smyth Hall has sheltered
generations of
commencement exercises.
Stately evergreens greet arrivals at the main entrance to
Nazareth College. A colonnade of silver maples lines
the drive up to Smyth Hall, where immense copper
beeches adorn the lawn and a spreading oak tree has
sheltered generations of graduating seniors.
Though Nazareth’s woodsy aspect is deeply familiar to many
of its alumni, the campus wasn’t always this scenic. Early photographs
of the Pittsford campus, to which the College relocated in
1942, reveal barren grounds with only a few tender young trees
scattered about. Mother Rose Miriam Smyth, Nazareth’s second
president and one of its five founders, determined to change
that and bought saplings whenever she could find the money to
do so. Planted in a somewhat random fashion and occasionally
too close to buildings, the number and variety of trees nevertheless
grew and prospered. One visiting nun even collected acorns
from the Sherwood Forest in England, resulting in at least three
now-mature oak trees on the north campus.
“Trees are a hallmark of the campus,” says Robert Sanderson,
grounds and landscape manager. “People perceive Nazareth as a
scenic place.” Since arriving on campus in 1976, he has continued
Smyth’s planting tradition, though with more professional
deliberation. Sanderson took advantage of the extended growing
season provided by proximity to Lake Ontario and invested in
seedling stock, established a nursery, and introduced new varieties
to campus. Kentucky coffee trees, river birches, and ginkgos
joined the oaks, maples, and sycamores on an increasingly lush
treescape. Today, more than 30 varieties grace Nazareth’s lawns
and walkways. Original trees, though aging, still flourish in
woodlots, and several ancient stands continue to harbor trees
more than 200 years old.
“I don’t manage an arboretum, I manage a college campus.
We’re in the business of education,” says Sanderson. “That being
said, I think it’s wonderful that the College puts so much value
on the campus experience.”
Mary Soons McCarty ’88 agrees. In the mid-’80s, McCarty
conducted a census of the campus’s trees for a biology class, publishing
her findings in a book now held by the Lorette Wilmot
Library. “The value of the trees cannot be overstated,” she says
in the book’s introduction. “An attractive campus is a strong
attraction for many would-be freshmen who are making a choice
of a college and its campus. For those already in residence, the
trees are subtly, or obviously, an added value to the quality of
daily life on campus.”
Over the years, as trees have become integral to the campus
experience, they’ve also been incorporated into students’
coursework. Professor of Biology William Hallahan, Ph.D., has
32 CONNECTIONS | Summer/Fall 2011 www.naz.edu