Ever have a hankering to check out an inkberry shrub? 

How about drooping leucothoe, creeping sandcherry or Mount Airy fothergilla?

To view all these plants, you’d have to venture to forests and fields scattered across the country — or simply follow in the footsteps of our small group of hikers, who spent a couple hours strolling through the Connecticut College Arboretum last week.

We also were surrounded by plenty of other trees and bushes commonly found in our neck of the woods — oaks, pines, hickory, birch, laurel — all of which thrive throughout this nature preserve/outdoor classroom.

Created in 1931, primarily to focus on mature hemlock trees in a 64-acre grove west of Williams Street, the arboretum has over the decades expanded to 750 acres in and around the New London campus and parts of Waterford. It now includes an extensive native plant collection, assorted ornamental trees and shrubs from around the world, and a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse that features an array of tropical plants, cacti and orchids.

The Arboretum serves as an important educational resource for budding botanists, biologists and ornithologists; provides extensive wildlife habitat; and maintains miles of public hiking trails.

We were walking on familiar territory for Maggie Jones, director emeritus of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic and a Connecticut College graduate.

“This brings back fond memories of hours spent in the Arboretum during my time at Conn in the 1980s, chasing Professor William A. Niering around the trails during Terrestrial and Wetlands Ecology class,” she said. “The class included a lab every week where we would spend three or four hours outdoors exploring different habitats and identifying plant communities, no matter the weather. Niering always walked fast and covered a lot of territory and material on each outing. I loved being outside, and I didn't want to miss a word he said, so I always stuck right with him.”

Niering, an internationally recognized wetlands expert, served as the Arboretum’s third director, following Richard H. Goodwin, a pioneering land preservationist, and George Sherman Avery Jr., the first director who later became president of the Botanical Society of America. Niering was succeeded by Glenn Dreyer, whose retirement in 2018 led to the hiring of the present director, Miles Schwartz Sax.

Most people, including those on organized tours, visit the Arboretum during the warm-weather months when flowers, trees and plants are blooming, but in the interest of maintaining social distancing during the pandemic, we decided to explore the property in late November.

Not to worry, as Maggie pointed out, the Arboretum is great year-round, with everything within walking distance — from the forested uplands, ravine and wetlands of the original Bolleswood natural area, to shrubby fields meadows and tidal marsh around Mamacoke Island.

After trooping past the broad, landscaped Laurel Walk just downhill from the entrance, we meandered through the native plant collection and more rugged Bolleswood and Goodwin natural areas.

Not far from the trail stands Buck Lodge, a rustic cabin that in non-COVID times has been a popular spot for small, casual campus events.

According to the college website, back in 1932, the parents of Frances Buck gave her a $2,000 graduation gift as a reward for not smoking. She donated the money to the college to create the first Outdoor Theater, and her father was so pleased that he gave more funds to build and maintain the lodge.

The entire campus is considered part of the arboretum, but the college website states that this portion is now closed to the public.

We also bypassed the Caroline Black Garden, a four-acre section, named after the first chair of the College's botany department, that features choice ornamental trees and shrubs arranged in a series of garden rooms.

After looping back to the main gate on Williams Street, we headed across Route 32 to Mamacoke Island, which Goodwin, the early Arboretum director, helped the college purchase from a marine contractor for $15,000 by lining up hundreds of small donors.

“We weren’t fat cats,” he once told The Day, “but it added up.”

This certainly proved to be a worthy acquisition — Mamacoke Island, designated as a National Audubon Society Important Bird Area, includes three coves and two salt ponds that provide habitat for a variety of ducks and other shore birds that spend the winter in Connecticut.

Maggie noted that formal vegetation and bird surveys initiated in the early 1950s continue today, giving student scientists invaluable first-hand experience and providing important long-term data of how forests change over time.

“I was fortunate to have taken part in both vegetation and bird surveys there, working under Niering, and with zoology professor Bob Askins. These are among the longest running ecological studies in North America, with results published in papers and prestigious scientific journals,” she noted.

The path to Mamacoke crosses a salt marsh that is muddy and sometimes underwater at high tide — we were fortunate that the tide was ebbing at our arrival, and even luckier a few minutes later when a bald eagle flew across the trail in front of us.

The 2.5-mile trail around the island highlights the contrast between Mamacoke’s natural majesty and its developed surroundings. The sound of traffic on Route 32 to the west mingled with the cries of gulls; the sprawling Naval Submarine Base directly across the Thames River to the east interrupted impressive views to the north and south.

No matter. Mamacoke Island, like the rest of the Arboretum, is a treasured haven — for birds, plants and people.

“What a legacy for the college, the community, and for future generations of biologists like me,” Maggie said.

For more information and directions, visit conncoll.edu/the-arboretum.