Arboretum

Wilcox Park is an arboretum, a museum of living trees, with many extant trees incorporated into Warren Manning's original park design. That design also included additional plantings using varieties available at the time, including trees native to the area and popular species such as the European Beech. Over time, more specimens were added, including the Dawn Redwood from Arnold Arboretum and the Tiger Eye Pine from the National Arboretum. The collection includes hardwoods such as oaks, beeches, and maples, and softwoods, mostly conifers such as pines and firs. Trees have been lost and replaced over time; for example, more than 100 trees fell in the park in the '38 Hurricane. Disease also changed tree selection: most native dogwoods were lost to a fungus, Japanese, or Kousa, dogwoods were added instead, and native dogwoods were later reintroduced as disease-resistant varieties became available. In 2018, Wilcox Park contained 8 Big Trees and 10 Champion Trees, the largest of their kinds in Rhode Island.

Westerly, Rhode Island · United States