Adkins Arboretum
Adkins Arboretum (400 acres) is a native garden and arboretum located within Tuckahoe State Park at 12610 Eveland Road, Ridgely, Maryland. It is open daily except major holidays; an admission fee is charged.
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[edit] Mission
The mission of Adkins Arboretum is to promote the appreciation and conservation of the native plants of the Delmarva Peninsula. The arboretum’s diverse setting of woodlands, meadows, wetlands, streams, and gardens serves as a model for land management and ecological restoration. Through its educational, research, cultural, and recreational programs, the arboretum strives to inspire its community to adopt land stewardship practices for a healthier and more beautiful world.
[edit] The Campaign to Build a Green Legacy
Adkins Arboretum has announced a $5 million Capital Campaign, "The Campaign to Build a Green Legacy." This project will build a new "green" Arboretum Center, create an ecologically sensitive entry and parking area, and provide endowment funds that will help sustain the expansion and support new programs. Upon its completion, the Arboretum wil be able to broaden its educational offerings and research inintiatives to accommodate a growing visitorship.
A unique aspect of the project will be an environmentally sustainable building that will meet te criteria for a Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. The new Arboretum Center will use nontoxic, recycled, and local materials, an innovative heating and cooling system, and other sustainable building methods.
[edit] History
The arboretum was originally established in 1972 to be the Maryland state arboretum on the grounds of Tuckahoe State Park. It first opened in the 1980s as a result of a major donation from Leon Andrus, a native of Queen Anne's County. The arboretum derives its name from the Adkins family, an Eastern Shore family of conservationists that was friends with Andrus. When Andrus died in 1989, he left a bequest to the arboretum's endowment.
Its original mission was to display all of Maryland's forest types; however in the 1990s, its mission was revised to emphasize the display and study of the Delmarva Peninsula's indigenous plant communities. In 1998, its operations were converted to a public/private partnership, with Maryland granting a 50-year lease to the Friends of Adkins Arboretum. Today, the arboretum is self-supporting with grants and donations.
Adkins Arboretum features over 600 species of native shrubs, trees, wildflowers and grasses, and contains more than four miles (6 km) of paths through meadows and native plant gardens on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
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Coordinates: 38°57′12″N 75°56′00″W / 38.953285°N 75.933444°W
