Unearthing a Buried Treasure, Part II: Student’s Vision for Trail Renovation Enabled by Fellow Students

Eliot Nagele (SEBS 2015) stands by one of two man-made ponds that are part of the trail.

The Arbor Trail is located behind the University Inn and Conference Center on the Douglass Campus. Rutgers purchased the property in 1965. The Inn is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and the trail had its grand re-opening on Rutgers Day 2015 on April 25, as part of the Inn’s anniversary celebration.

In 1908, armed with a degree in mechanical engineering, young Sydney Bleecker Carpender began his business career with the Brunswick Refrigerating Company, a manufacturer of refrigerating and ice-making machinery. Carpender became the company’s vice-president and general manager in 1911, at age 27. That same year he had a manor built on his family’s property in New Brunswick for him and his wife, the former Louise Johnson, daughter of one of the founding brothers of Johnson & Johnson. A horticultural enthusiast, Carpender created a unique man-made landscape on the estate complete with rolling meadows, ponds and a wooded trail established with select landscape plantings and trees.

One hundred years later, another young man came across the wooded trail, its glorious past buried under decades of inattention and debris. Rutgers environmental planning and design major Eliot Nagele (SEBS 2015) stumbled upon the remnants of the trail when he was cleaning up a nearby creek. Nagele’s venture of taking on the task of renovating the abandoned trail, which began in the spring of 2013, was described in Part I of this story. As Nagele (pronounced Nay-gul) is now in his senior year, it’s time to check in on his progress and see what the trail is like two years after he first rediscovered it. Nagele has bought himself some time to continue his monumental project by completing the certificate of urban forestry program led by Professor Jason Grabosky, which will move his graduation to fall of 2015.

The trail has come a long way since Nagele first encountered it: The grounds were littered with downed trees and branches. Invasive species crept through the understory. The two ponds were filled with muck and debris. Except for the trail’s exposed stone borders, the trail itself was indistinguishable from the surrounding woods. As Nagele methodically worked his way through the process of trail renovation, what emerged from the grounds was a landscape of possibilities. After the initial clean-up and Nagele conducted an inventory/mapping of the plantings, he could envision multiple uses for the site, and ways to enhance the setting through new plantings.

As he set about accomplishing the envisioned tasks, Nagele became as astute a manager of human resources as he was of natural resources – each presenting their own set of challenges. Managing the natural resources requires vigilance, as Nagele affirms, “Every year it needs consistent maintenance.” The severe winter took its toll and the trail underwent more deer browsing than usual, as was the case for nearby Rutgers Gardens. Although the trees downed from prior hurricanes had been cleared, this winter’s heavy snow melt/freeze cycle heaved a huge tree across the lower path that had most recently been cleared. Some of the newer plantings that were put in last spring but didn’t get watered the full length of the summer died. But just as these natural resources present their challenges, they also demonstrate their splendor. Early spring revealed patches of blooming white snowdrops planted by Carpender along the upper trail, and yellow winter aconite along the lower trail. These made way for daffodils and other spring flowers that may have been planted closer to the manor but spread down the hill. Rhododendrons, azaleas and mountain laurels that were planted last spring continue the seasonal parade of color. Before the canopy of leaves fills in for the summer, the once blackened ponds now reflect the blue sky.

Arbor Trail Renovation: Before, After and Beyond

Image 1 of 12

Early spring 2015. The trail has come a long way, but Eliot Nagele still has further plans to recreate an outdoor classroom.