Celebrate National Arbor Day of Service and Earth Day at The Woodlands Cemetery - April 22

PHILADELPHIA, PA—On Wednesday, April 22nd , between 8 am and 3 pm come to Woodlands Cemetery at 4000 Woodland Avenue in West Philadelphia and join tree lovers, naturalists, and landscape volunteers to watch 70 certified arborists cut and prune The Woodlands arboretum for a special celebration of National Arbor Day. Arbor Day of Service, which coincides with Earth Day, is an opportunity for professional arborists to give back to their communities through voluntary service at significant sites in each state. This year the International Society of Arboriculture's PENN-DEL Chapter has selected the historic landscape of The Woodlands to benefit from their expertise and a day of volunteer services with all their tree cutting and chipping equipment. This large congregation of professional tree care experts will demonstrate the finest pruning, stumping, and tree removal techniques for public observation, while helping to maintain an important historical landscape. Arbor Day activities will take place throughout the cemetery landscape, but will be concentrated in the northeast corner (turn left after coming through the main entrance). Volunteers with pruning sheers are invited to also help trim bushes between 9 AM and 2 PM.
The members of the Penn Del Chapter of I.S.A choose to provide community service through volunteer tree care as a way of promoting the skills of Certified Arborists. The public is encouraged to find information about proper tree care at the official consumer website of I.S.A. www.treesaregood.org. Past sites selected as service recipients have included Awbury Arboretum in Philadelphia, Woodward Hills Cemetery in Lancaster, and Tyler Arboretum in Media. This year’s site, The Woodlands, is a National Historic Landmark District that features the grand neoclassical residence and carriage house of William Hamilton (redesigned between 1786 and 1792) and Woodlands Cemetery, a “rural cemetery” that after 1840 converted 92 acres of Hamilton’s picturesque English landscape into a Philadelphia burial ground for the region. Under Hamilton the landscape had featured one of America's largest early collections of rare trees and garden plants. When converted into a cemetery, original roads and the topography were retained but expanded with paths, winding carriage ways, and an arboretum of new trees in the manner of a Victorian English cemetery. The arboretum today includes more than 1,000 trees of over 100 different species. The Woodlands Cemetery remains active for burials and features the tallest funeral obelisk in the nation, elaborate sculpted monuments, and grand marble mausoleums commemorating some of Philadelphia’s most important citizens. The grounds are open to the public daily and serve for healthful exercise and viewing nature and sculpture. Tours of the mansion will be conducted at 11 AM and 2 PM on Wednesday, April 22nd. Self-guiding brochures and a map of the cemetery listing 85 notables interred, including Thomas Eakins, will be available at the mansion. Call 215-386-2181 for more information or to arrange a tour on another day.

Visit www.woodlandsphila.org for a list of other spring events. Be sure to return to Woodlands Cemetery on Saturday, May 2, for the Eastern Tree Climbing Championship and Community Field Day from 8 am to 4 pm sponsored by the Penn-Del Chapter of ISA.