THREE CENTURIES ON THE CANOE HILLS by Janet and George Bookman
The New York Botanical Garden is now in the process of establishing the Cary Arboretum, potentially the most important and complete arboretum in the United States, on nearly 1800 acres of land in Millbrook, New York — land with a colorful history dating back to pre-colonial times. Although the site is less than two hours from the heart of New York City — and only 90 minutes from the Garden's Bronx headquarters — a visit to the Canoe Hills area in central Dutchess County where the arboretum will be located is like taking a step back through time. The narrow unpaved roads, the farmhouses, even the landowners' names, have changed little since the rugged hill country was settled early in the 18th century. The serene aspect of the countryside, however, does not mean that history has passed this area by. Indeed, a close look at what has occurred over the centuries on this patch of Hudson Valley land reveals that it was in microcosm a surprisingly accurate mirror of the great and humble events of each succeeding generation. The very name of the new undertaking — the Cary Arboretum — echoes the area's history. It is so named in recognition of the fact that the land, plus generous financial support, have been made available to the Garden under an initial seven-year agreement with the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, a philanthropic fund created under the will of the granddaughter of Henry Morrison Flagler, a founder of the Standard Oil Company, who traced his ancestry directly back to one of the German Palatines who settled in New York state in the early 1700's, on land that is now included in the Arboretum. Mrs. Cary, who died in December 1967, was a widely-travelled woman whose broad interests embraced music, education, and rare manuscripts. Her strongest commitment, however, was to conservation. She reserved her deepest feelings for this rough, rock-strewn stretch of land, pocked by glacial outcroppings, containing quite a few acres that a farmer could plow only by going up or downhill. The Canoe Hills (or "Cannoo" as Mrs. Cary preferred to spell it), are surprisingly beautiful and rural even today, though within minutes of highways and exurbia. Yet the hills still clearly show the evidence that here man has lived, died, and played his role in history for some three centuries. Tremendous natural diversity is crammed into these 1800 acres. The centerpiece of the area is Canoe Hill itself, 730 feet high. From its limestone flanks, the foothills fall away — heavily wooded at first, and then opening up into meadowland watered by the East branch of the Wappingers Creek, one of the principal streams of Dutchess County. 88
