Community Tree Initiative

In 2022 Boscobel House and Gardens was proud to launch a Community Tree Initiative: a 3-year, pilot program sharing Boscobel’s mission and core values with its broader community.

In its first year, Boscobel partnered with the Village of Cold Spring’s Tree Advisory Board, Town of Philipstown, and local businesses and schools to plant two dozen trees of native varieties along Cold Spring’s Chestnut Street (NY Route 9D), where rows of chestnuts originally stood until the 1930s. Local partner sites chose their own trees according to Village guidelines and with the guidance of a Tree Advisory Board volunteer arborist.

2022 planting sites include:
• Haldane School, Haldane Central School District
• M&T Bank-Cold Spring
• The Nest Childcare Center
• Unicorn Contracting
• The Manitou School, which also pledged to join the Initiative by planting its own tree on school grounds

Participating landscape firms include Garrison Tree, Grace Kennedy Design, and Kingsley Tree Care.

The trees are intended to help restore beauty and historic character of Cold Spring and benefit its ecosystem long-term, just as trees do at Boscobel. In its first year, the Tree Initiative was made possible by a generous anonymous donor to Boscobel’s Tree Fund. It is hoped that this project will inspire and be a model for other communities, organizations, and individuals to create their own environmental initiatives.

Trees at Boscobel
Trees play an important ecological, historical, and aesthetic role here at Boscobel. The care and maintenance of our tree collection is a significant part of our daily operations and nonprofit budget. Through Tree Fund donations, in 2022 Boscobel planted 12 American Holly trees on our site to increase eco-diversity, provide beauty and shade, and support natural residents such as migratory birds. Boscobel also offered a free tree-planting workshop led by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, Putnam County.

Boscobel Tree Fund
The Boscobel Tree Fund is dedicated to support costs associated with the planning, purchasing, planting and maintenance of our trees onsite and through the Community Tree Initiative.

Boscobel welcomes and needs donations of any amount toward the Tree Fund; donations are fully tax deductible as permitted by law. To make a memorial gift to the Tree Fund in honor of a family member or loved one, please contact Development Director Martha Pearson at 845-265-3638 or mpearson@boscobel.org for more information.

Click below to make your Tree Fund donation online or mail your check to Boscobel with “Tree Fund” noted in the memo line on your payment.

Thank you!

Photo above: Planting ceremony in November 2022 at The Nest Childcare Center, with (left to right) Cold Spring Tree Advisory Board Chair Jen Zwarich, Boscobel Trustee Fred Osborn, Boscobel Trustee Maria Stein-Marrison, Boscobel Co-Chair Alex Reese, Cold Spring Mayor Kathleen Foley, Cold Spring Deputy Mayor Tweeps Woods, Peter Hofmann, Boscobel Executive Director Jennifer Carlquist, Boscobel Trustee and Program Committee Chair Bill Burback, Putnam County Legislator Nancy Montgomery