Tennessee Tech Arboretum

 

Here is a link to download the map: TNTech Arboretum Map

 

 

 

 

Now sitting in the heart of Tennessee Tech University, our twin Post Oaks, both over 300 years old, have seen the development of Middle Tennessee. The two sit alongside the historic Old Walton Road and have witnessed the migration of all kinds of tribes and people, such as the Cherokee and Yuchi. They would have seen the formation of the route created by grazing bison herded by Native Americans. Soon after, early pioneers followed these routes on their travels from Knoxville, TN.

In 1890, the Tennessee Central Railroad was built along Walton Road connecting Nashville and Knoxville together.

The trees would have also witnessed the burning of what is now known as the Old Burnt Stand where Tucker Stadium currently stands. Travelers coming from the eastern parts of Tennessee would come here for lodging during their long journeys.

One of our historic trees resides by T.J. Farr, and the other one can be found behing the ROTC building.

TUFC Twin Oaks Website

The Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum on the Tennessee Tech campus was officially dedicated on March 7, 1997 (Arbor Day). It encompassed all of the grounds from Oakley Hall to Derryberry Hall bordering on Dixie Avenue. The Cookeville Tree Board, of which Coorts was a member, proposed the memorial, and Tennessee Tech and the Board followed up with the plan to establish the arboretum. The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., certified the Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum as a Level 2 arboretum in August 2003.

After the dedication ceremony in Oakley Hall, a white beech memorial tree was planted on the Quadrangle in his honor. Also, a stone memorial (now located in front of Oakley Hall) was erected, and the plaque on the stone reads:

"Dr. Coorts' life was a dedication to the beautification of God's earth through sight and sound …"

When the memorial stone was relocated from the Quadrangle to its current location, it was placed upright on a concrete pad. Before the concrete was dry, leaf impressions were made in a concrete "lip" of the pad. One leaf from every tree located in the Arboretum at the time was pressed into the wet concrete. The border area of the pad was reserved for imprinted bricks, which were sold at $50 per brick to raise funds to support maintenance and expansion of the arboretum. The project is complete with some 60 bricks having been sold and installed.

Although, no longer an active arboretum, this history shows Tech's long-standing commitment to the care and significance of it's trees and green spaces.