NEWSLETTER – WINTER 2004
“TRAILS” (macro & micro) is the theme of this mid-winter newsletter to the membership. We thought you might be interested in two aspects of this subject as they relate to Harlan P. Kelsey and his Arboretum. The macro is the historical impact of Kelsey on what many consider America’s greatest trail – The Appalachian Trail. The micro is the current debate we deal with in setting policy for trail width in today’s Arboretum.
The Appalachian Trail. Outdoorsmen are often familiar with the name of Benton MacKay as the visionary who conceived and laid out the Appalachian Trail. But how many connect the name of Harlan Kelsey with an important role in that epic venture? In 1969 MacKay was asked by the ATC Board of Governors to set down some words for the group’s half-century celebration. He spoke of laying the foundations for the Trail and cited “a unique group of founding fathers……There was Harlan Kelsey, who proposed shifting the southern terminus from Mt. Mitchell to the Great Smoky Range with a terminus in Georgia, thus becoming the author of the phrase ‘from Maine to Georgia’.“
MacKay wrote an obituary for Harlan Kelsey in the venerable Cosmos Club Bulletin in Washington D.C. which included the following:
…..Club members will remember him as “Kel”. He once did me a favor, with results far-reaching. He corrected my geography. It was in the early 1920’s. The Appalachian Trail was in its swaddling clothes. I had proposed a route for it – “from the highest point in the north to the highest point in the south – from Mount Washington to Mount Mitchell.” I was conferring thereon, in Washington, with Kel and two other illustrious Club members……Any one of these big three could have corrected my mountainous ignorance of mountains, but it was Kelsey. He was then, along with Maj. W. A. Welch, on the job of locating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “Hell”, quoth Kel, “don’t take your Trail to Mount Mitchell – take it through the Smokies – that’s where the scenery is.” And so we did, of course.
The Arboretum Trails. As you walk through the Arboretum today, you will find yourself following basically the identical trails that Harlan Kelsey laid out in 1929 (based on his early sketch of the layout). Your board faces a constant trade-off between widening them to minimize the need for constant pruning, and keeping them narrow for “coziness” and protection of root structure for the adjacent plants. Wherever practical, the answer appears to favor the narrow approach and we thought you would appreciate the reasons why.
Shortly after Seth and Penel sold the property and departed for Pennsylvania, Sally Wood had the privilege of walking the Arboretum with Seth for his comments and advice. He spoke of the benefits of the drooping leucothoe which lines so many of the trails. Its’ dense habit (in the South it is known as “dog-hobble”) keeps you on the trail and away from the tender root span of the rhododendrons and other specimens.
Contemporary experts echo that sentiment. Rick Dark, former Curator of Plants at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania talks of “respecting roots” in his magnificent book, The American Woodland Garden © 2002.
“Working with Woodland Gardens large and small…..I’ve taken the utmost precaution in protecting the delicate root zones of existing trees. ….. Sometimes taken for granted as the invisible portion of the garden, the root systems of trees are an extensive and sensitive component of woodland landscapes. ….. When planting within root zones, minimize injury to tree roots by working with hand tools. ….. Healthy tree roots need oxygen, which is generally in greatest supply near the soil surface. ….. Regular, heavy foot traffic over roots can also diminish or destroy a tree’s health. If a path must cross over sensitive roots, consider adding paving stones or even a raised boardwalk to take the brunt of the weight.”
If we succeed in our goal to bring more of you into the Arboretum, we would only ask that you stay on the trails on which we will work for clearer delineation. For safety, if you are “off trail” please use caution to avoid the low dead tree limbs which of necessity are part of the true woodland landscape.