Final tour of North Woods scheduled for July 30
Skidmore College will offer the last of its summer tours of its North Woods on Saturday, July 30. Open to the public free of charge, the guided walk will focus on the cultural history of the 200-acre tract, located just north of the main campus on North Broadway.
The tour will begin with an information session in Room 280 of Bolton Hall on the Skidmore campus at 1:30 p.m., and then the walk will set out from the Palamountain Hall lobby at 2 p.m. Led by Robert Jones, associate professor and chair of economics at Skidmore, the walk will follow some of the area's historic carriage trails.
Jones will explain in his presentation that the current Skidmore campus is located on land that prior to 1960 was known as Woodlawn. Its grounds contained largely forested land with several estate homes, a large lawn, and more than 20 miles of carriage trails dating back more than a century.
Skidmore's North Woods property is home to numerous native species, including migrating songbirds and 33 types of ferns. With southern oak, hickory, and northern hardwoods as well as ponds and marshes, the woods support a biologically diverse animal and plant population that is important to faculty and student research. Much of the area is available for public use.
For further information on the North Woods, contact Riley Neugebauer, sustainability coordinator at Skidmore, 518-580-5865, rneugeba@skidmore.edu.