Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City, Nebraska, grew from J. Sterling Morton’s modest 1855 house into a 52-room neo-colonial mansion at the center of an estate closely linked to the origins of Arbor Day. Morton, later U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, used the grounds to test tree species suited to the Great Plains, especially for windbreaks and landscape improvement. The property developed into an arboretum with hundreds of varieties of trees and shrubs, gardens, orchards, and notable specimen trees. Now a National Historic Landmark within Nebraska’s state park system, it preserves Morton family furnishings, regional historical objects, and landscaped grounds including trails, gardens, and carriage displays.