Bluegreen Colorful Places

The College of William and Mary is the second oldest college in the United States. It is what many call a “Public Ivy,” as it offers superior education to some of the smartest students in the world. The university has been recognized as having the second highest graduation rate among public research institutions; talented faculty who receive awards such as the Guggenheim and recognitions and awards from Bloomberg Business Week, Forbes, Kiplinger, the Princeton Review and Newsweek.

William and Mary is an integral part of Virginia history, culture and future. As the second oldest university in the states, it has had some time to cultivate a beautiful campus and create open places for students and the public to enjoy. If you have ever taken a Bluegreen vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia, you have undoubtedly seen the campus as you’ve gone to and from Patrick Henry Square, Colonial Williamsburg, and nearby areas. Now it is time to take a step onto the campus and see what makes these grounds so beautiful.

The Campus Tour of Woody Species includes over 300 species and varieties of woody plants. It serves not only as a scenic attribute to the campus, but also as a research grounds for students and faculty at the College. The collection is the product of the time and contributions of many people, but the first man to instigate the project was John T. Baldwin, Jr.

Baldwin Jr. was a student at William and Mary who majored in biology, completed his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in 1973, taught at W&M from 1937 through 1939 and remained on the faculty until 1947. In all of his travels, he would mail or bring back seeds and plants to maintain and study in Williamsburg. For several decades, he and colleague Professor Bernice Speese gradually created a beautiful, fully-populated outdoor laboratory.

Baldwin asked his colleagues to maintain the collection when he was no longer able. After his death in 1974, Biology Professor Mathes launched a project to identify, inventory and map the many specious that now inhabited the grounds of W&M, as much of the original documentation was lost. He, along with fellow colleagues and students, identified approximately 325 species and varieties of woody plants.

Mathes, retired now, still leads walking tours through the school grounds. While he is not always present to show you through the trails and gardens, self tours are available to the public. The tour begins and ends near the Wren Building on the Old Campus and follows a path that contains 15 noted areas.

Areas such as the Sunken Garden, Wildflower Refuge, Phillips Garden, Landrum Hall, Washington Hall, Ewell Hall and the Adams Garden display trees, shrubs and flowers from all over the world. Species range from Weeping Willows to Black Walnut, Magnolias, bamboo, orchids, rhododendron and succulents. The list continues (past 300, in fact) and actually continues to grow, as students, private citizens and the College’s Gardens and Grounds division of Facilities Management care for, and supplement the grounds.

At less than 10 minutes away from the Bluegreen’s Patrick Henry Square, The College of William and Mary is a beautiful campus, with a beautiful tour. Activities such as this Campus Tour of Woody Species allow you as a Bluegreen vacationer to fully immerse yourself into the city’s culture. These gardens represent a more-than-30-year tradition, and will probably remain for 10 times as long.  So go ahead, go see this cool tradition. You can go home from your Bluegreen vacation and tell your jealous neighbors about it.

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