This past week, Blue Jays were able to participate in Elizabethtown College’s yearly Into the Streets event hosted by the Office of Student Activities (OSA). Students traveled around the local community to volunteer in Etown, Mount Joy and Lancaster.
As part of Into the Streets this year, I ended up at a quaint estate in Lancaster known as the Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum. Initially, I was skeptical of the work we were assigned: pruning and weeding the grounds. However, I quickly began to enjoy spending time outside and working towards a common goal with friends. Volunteering is a productive way to make a difference in one’s community. Beyond this, it is also a good way to discover new places and activities, as well as meet new people.
The Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum is a beautiful spot to walk, take a historical tour and do some local sightseeing. It is also a fascinating spot to learn some of Lancaster’s history, including background about former president James Buchanan, who lived on the grounds. His old estate, known as Wheatland, is still open to the public. The immense home was built in 1828. Those interested in its history can tour the inside of the home and see Buchanan’s old belongings as well as items that date back to the pre-Civil War era.
As part of my volunteer experience at the Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum, I was also able to take a tour of the remainder of the property. The elegantly manicured grounds are full of a diverse variety of plants, trees and flowers. LancasterHistory maintains the existing gardens and works to add new plants as they see fit. This is done through The Friends the Tanger Arboretum. The manager of the arboretum as well as other maintenance employees are extremely knowledgeable about the history of the grounds and the types of plants contained on it.
Additionally, people can take self-guided tours of the arboretum, walking in the gardens at their own pace and taking in the sights. Although only spanning 11 acres in size, it contains diverse plants and gardens including a pollinator garden filled with native Pennsylvania plants and a section of well-maintained conifer trees. This includes an American Conifer Society Reference Garden that was created in 2015 and holds about 120 dwarf conifer trees.
Deeper within the estate, three trees on the property were awarded the biggest in the state of Pennsylvania based on height, circumference of the trunk and span of the branches. In total, it contains more than 100 tree species from around the state, helping to support native wildlife by providing habitats and food for PA organisms.
All in all, the Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum is a beautiful spot to explore and learn about Pennsylvania’s native wildlife and history. Take a tour, peek into the gift shop or simply walk through the grounds and enjoy the peace of nature.
