If you're looking for a quiet spot to enjoy this summer's sunny days, visit the Root Glen, where you'll also be treated to a riot of colors provided by the thousands of flowers growing there. Garden enthusiasts from hours away travel to the Glen to experience the beauty of Hamilton's hidden treasure.
The Root Glen is a 7.5 acre wooded area located behind Hamilton's Admission Office. You'll find the largest Norway spruce in the United States is planted there, as is the renowned Saunders peony collection. During the summer months Root Glen provides a kaleidoscope of color as thousand of annuals and perennials blossom.
Today's Glen is the result of the work of three generations of the Root family, whose members are widely known for their various achievements in scholarship, diplomacy and art collecting.
In 1850, Oren Root bought the building adjacent to the Glen which he named The Homestead. Oren and his wife, Nancy, set about planting trees, shrubs and flowers in the cleared sheep pasture around the house.
By the time Oren's son, Elihu, had inherited the property, the Roots had expanded the gardens. Although Elihu served his country as Secretary of War, Secretary of State and U.S. Senator, the Nobel Prize winner found time to return to Clinton and supervise the care of the gardens and expansion of the tree plantings.
In 1937, Edward Root took over the gardening duties from his father. With his wife, Grace, he continued the development and added to the beauty of the Glen. After her husband's death in 1956, Grace Root devoted evern more of her time. money and enthusiasm to making the Glen much as it is today. She established the Root Glen Foundation, the aims of which were to perpetuate the Glen as a place of beauty for public enjoyment, to use the land for appropriate educational purposes, to encourage programs that conserve rare and threatened plants and to promote interest in the study of birds. In 1971 the Foundation was dissolved and Grace transferred ownership of the Glen to Hamilton College.
The Glen contains some 65 species of trees, many kinds of shrubs and scores of varieties of flowers. Inside the Hemlock Enclosure are beds of peonies hybridized by Professor A. P. Saunders, iris, azaleas, lilies and astilbes. There are numerous other perennials and annuals, some of which change each year as the Glen evolves.
