A section of the Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus Adolphus College will be dedicated and named the Charles & Harriet Mason Deciduous Woods at a public ceremony at 5 p.m. Friday, May 11, in honor of longtime Gustavus employees and Arboretum supporters Charles and Harriet Mason.
The Mason’s dedicated many years of their lives to serving Gustavus and nature. Charles taught biology at the College from 1967 to 1997 and brought great honor to Gustavus by earning the prestigious Charles A. Lindbergh Grant for his work with algae. Harriet was a stay-at-home mother who subsequently pursued a doctorate in botanical ecology at the University of Minnesota.
For many years, the Masons shared a vision of establishing an arboretum on campus that would serve as a place of learning and exploration for students and the St. Peter community. That dream became reality in 1973 when they planted the first seedlings on a parcel of land that would become the Linnaeus Arboretum. Charles was named the Arboretum’s first executive director in 1975 and Harried served as the coordinator of the Arboretum’s Melva Lind Interpretive Center from 1988 to 1998, when they both retired.
“Today the Linnaeus Arboretum is a unique and integral part of the Gustavus campus and the deciduous woods stand as a renewable testament to the Mason’s legacy,” said Dr. Cindy Johnson, current Executive Director of the Arboretum.
Friday’s dedication ceremony will include remarks from Johnson and President Jack R. Ohle as well as a dedication and blessing by Chaplain Rachel Larson. A ceremonial planting will conclude the dedication ceremony. Arboretum staff will host tours before the ceremony starting at 4 p.m.
The Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus is named for Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), a Swedish botanist who is best known for his work shortening long Latin descriptive plant names to a simpler binomial nomenclature system. With 125 acres on the southwestern end of the Gustavus campus, the arboretum provides an environment to educate the mind, revive the spirit, exercise the heart, and delight in Minnesota’s natural history.
The arboretum was established in 1973 with the planting of tree seedlings on what had previously been agricultural land. The three major ecosystems found in Minnesota are represented in the arboretum, including the northern conifer forests, prairies of the south and west, and deciduous forests from central Minnesota. Formal gardens surround the Melva Lind Interpretive Center and include more than 100 species of cultivated trees introduced from other regions. The Coneflower Prairie, a new 70-acre tall grass prairie was recently developed on the west side of the arboretum and will be dedicated in September. The Linnaeus Arboretum is open during daylight hours throughout the year. The Melva Lind Interpretive Center is open weekdays during the school year, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m., and by appointment.
For more information about the Linnaeus Arboretum, go online to gustavus.edu/arboretum or contact Dr. Cindy Johnson at 507-933-7199.
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