Gold Coast Beginnings The LIU Post Community Arboretum began in 1921 as “Hillwood,” the country estate of Post Cereal Company heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her husband, Edward F. Hutton, the famous Wall Street tycoon. The Brookville, N.Y. property was occupied by a Spanish-style home that the couple transformed into a half- timbered English Tudor. In 1922, they hired renowned landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin to design gardens to complement the style of the house. In addition to creating a walled flower garden, a rose arbor, and a water garden, Ms. Coffin planted various trees which still exist today: Dogwoods, Cedar, Holly, Boxwoods, Standard Wisteria, Sophora, and Taxus. Other trees predate the Post estate such as the magnificent Blue Atlas Cedar that stands over 60 feet tall and is more than a century old. Ms. Coffin also transplanted fully grown Elm trees to the eastern side of the Post mansion and designed a majestic driveway that began at the estate’s main entrance on Northern Boulevard, curved past simple outer buildings, and continued on to the mansion. Long Island University purchased the Post estate in 1951. Classes began in 1955. Since that time, the campus has been home to students from around the country and the world. In 1999, alumni Rick Rosen (’70) and Tina Lippert Rosen (’71) launched the LIU Post Arboretum Initiative with a generous donation to professionally catalog and help maintain the campus’s collection of trees. The LIU Post Community Arboretum officially opened to the public in April 2002. LIU Post 720 Northern Boulevard Brookville, New York 11548 liu.edu/arboretum 516-299-3500 [email protected]THE LIU Post COMMUNITY Arboretum Visitor’s Guide AND Map Visitor Information LIU Post Community Arboretum is open to the public from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. Admission is free. Because the arboretum is a cherished part of LIU Post, we ask that you take care not to damage any plants or trees, and no pets please. We’d like our arboretum to serve as a resource for generations to come. Group tours, led by a trained horticulturist, are available by appointment. The trail is wheelchair accessible. Contributions We depend on the generous support of our friends to preserve the campus’s valuable natural areas and tree collection. Donations to the LIU Post Community Arboretum help us care for the trees and fund the tree replacement program. Your contribution will help us to maintain and enhance this beautiful arboretum. For more information on donor opportunities, please call LIU Post Development & Alumni Office at 516-299-2263. For more information, call 516-299-3500 or write: LIU Post Community Arboretum LIU Post 720 Northern Boulevard Brookville, NY 11548 Email: [email protected]Web: liu.edu/arboretum
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Gold Coast Beginnings
The LIU Post Community Arboretum began in 1921 as “Hillwood,” the country estate of Post CerealCompany heiress Marjorie Merriweather Postand her husband, Edward F. Hutton, thefamous Wall Street tycoon. The Brookville,N.Y. property was occupied by a Spanish-stylehome that the couple transformed into a half-timbered English Tudor. In 1922, they hiredrenowned landscape architect Marian CrugerCoffin to design gardens to complement the style of the house.
In addition to creating a walled flower garden, a rose arbor, and a water garden,
Ms. Coffin planted various treeswhich still exist today: Dogwoods,Cedar, Holly, Boxwoods, StandardWisteria, Sophora, and Taxus.
Other trees predate the Post estate such as the
magnificent Blue Atlas Cedar thatstands over 60 feet tall and is more than acentury old. Ms. Coffin also transplantedfully grown Elm trees to the eastern side ofthe Post mansion and designeda majestic driveway that
began at the estate’s main entranceon Northern Boulevard, curvedpast simple outer buildings, andcontinued on to the mansion.
Long Island University purchased thePost estate in 1951. Classes began in1955. Since that time, the campus hasbeen home to students from around the country and theworld. In 1999, alumni Rick Rosen (’70) and Tina LippertRosen (’71) launched the LIU Post Arboretum Initiative with a generous donation to professionally catalog and help maintain the campus’s collection of trees. The LIU PostCommunity Arboretum officially opened to the public in April 2002.
LIU Post Community Arboretum is open to thepublic from dawn to dusk, seven days a week.Admission is free. Because the arboretum is a cherished part of LIU Post, we ask that you take care notto damage any plants or trees, and no pets please. We’d like ourarboretum to serve as a resource for generations to come. Grouptours, led by a trained horticulturist, are available byappointment. The trail is wheelchair accessible.
Contributions
We depend on the generous support of our friends to preservethe campus’s valuable natural areas and tree collection.Donations to the LIU Post Community Arboretum help us care for the trees and fund the tree replacement program. Your contribution will help us to maintain and enhance this beautiful arboretum. For more information on donoropportunities, please call LIU Post Development & AlumniOffice at 516-299-2263.
For more information, call 516-299-3500 or write:
LIU Post Community ArboretumLIU Post 720 Northern BoulevardBrookville, NY 11548
The LIU Post Community Arboretum is a magnificent 20-acre tract of native trees and naturetrails within LIU Post. It features more than 110 trees (62 species), some very rare, that arelabeled with horticultural and origin information.The trees are nestled amid formal gardens,rolling green lawns, and a wide variety of
shrubs and flowering plants, including more than50,000 tulips and daffodils. The arboretum serves as an educational and recreational resource for studentsand faculty as well as the Long Island community. Self-guided walking tours begin at Hillwood Commonsand last 30 to 45 minutes. The trail winds past the Tudor mansion that was once the home of cereal heiressMarjorie Merriweather Post, around the campus’ mainacademic buildings, over a babbling brook, alongside
a memorial garden, and around a labyrinth created by LIU Post students.
Highlights
The beauty you will find along these walks is truly breathtaking.Our collection of trees includes some of the largest and mostunusual on Long Island: a 105-foot tulip tree, a Japanese pagodadogwood tree, and a 90-year-oldAmerican Elm, to name a few. Uniqueplantings bear the mark of the arboretum’s
regal beginnings. In the 1920s, forexample, gardeners from the Postfamily estate created a Tabletop ScotchElm by grafting two elm varietiestogether resulting in a grainy bark atthe base of the tree, and a smooth barkat the top. The contrast is striking.Gardeners also planted a formal flower gardennext to the Winnick House administration buildingwhere brick walls, walkways and benches remaintoday as a testament to a gentler time. Thearboretum as a whole is a tribute to the naturalbeauty of Long Island’s famed Gold oast.