Dawes Arboretum

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Dawes Arboretum (1,650 acres) is a major non-profit arboretum located at 7770 Jacksontown Rd SE, Newark, Ohio. It is open free of charge from dawn till dusk every day except New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The Dawes Arboretum was officially established on June 1, 1929 when Beman Gates Dawes (1870-1953) and his wife, Bertie Burr Dawes (1872-1958) created a private foundation and set aside land "to give pleasure to the public and education to the youth; and to increase the general knowledge and love of trees and shrubs, and bring about an increase and improvement in their growth and culture." By that date, the Arboretum already had 500 varieties of trees and shrubs.

The Arboretum features plants tolerant of central Ohio's climate. As of December 2004, its plant records database tracks 21,490 plants, of which 16,488 are planted on the grounds. (2,829 of those individuals are wild of known origin.) These records represent 5,701 individual plant names (taxa) of which 4,635 are planted on the grounds. The taxa represent 234 genera, 63 families, and 1741 species, hybrids or infraspecific names. 6,260 of those names are verified by taxonomic descriptions. The herbarium consists of 838 vouchers.

Major collections include the following, with counts current as of December 2004:

Conifer - 6,792 recorded specimens of conifers, representing 1,636 unique names (taxa). These names include 225 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Crab apple - 1,301 recorded specimens of the genus Malus (not including domestic apples), representing 167 unique names (taxa). These names include 158 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Holly - 1,098 recorded specimens of the genus Ilex, representing 433 unique names (taxa). These names include 59 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Oak - 610 recorded specimens of the genus Quercus, representing 99 unique names (taxa). These names include 63 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Rhododendron and Azalea - 1,857 recorded specimens of the genus Rhododendron (which includes azaleas), representing 649 unique names (taxa). These names include 628 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Spiraea - 276 recorded specimens of the genus Spiraea, representing 63 unique names (taxa). These names include 32 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Viburnum - 469 recorded specimens of the genus Viburnum, representing 129 unique names (taxa). These names include 62 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

Witch-hazel - 170 recorded specimens of the genus Hamamelis, representing 78 unique names (taxa). These names include 12 species, hybrids or infraspecific taxa.

A number of well-known people have dedicated trees at the Arboretum, including explorers Richard E. Byrd and Lincoln Ellsworth; sports figures Red Grange, Gene Tunney, Bobby Jones, and Jesse Owens; Admiral William Halsey, Admiral Ernest King, and General John Pershing; and others including Buckminster Fuller, John Glenn, Osa Johnson, Fritz Kreisler, Wiley Post, and Orville Wright.

Dawes Arboretum

See also