"A living museum:" Joy McKee Arboretum takes root
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Two 70-plus-year-old dogwoods on the site will be incorporated into the arboretum layout. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
Construction is underway at John Hunt Park on the Joy McKee Arboretum, newly named to honor a longtime steward of Huntsville's green spaces.
Why it matters: City landscapers saw an opportunity to preserve history, support native trees and urban canopy, give visitors a nature break and educate the public in an unused corner of the park.
Zoom in: The $400,000 arboretum spans three acres along Alex McAllister Drive — between the Get-A-Way Skatepark and the championship soccer fields — and aims to showcase native trees and plants.
- The city plans to open the arboretum in May, weather permitting, said Brian Walker, Huntsville's director of Landscape Management & Green Team.
Zoom out: The city will seek a Level II arboretum designation from the Arbor Day Foundation, a certification requiring at least 100 labeled tree or woody plant species and a "commitment to public education and collections management."
- That designation "makes us like a living museum," Nikole Sothers, manager of the city's Landscape Management Department, told Axios.
How it works: The city will create dry creeks, rises and dips to represent the ecosystems around Huntsville where the featured trees can be found in the wild, from the heights of Monte Sano to the bogs of Hampton Cove.
- Alongside oaks, shagbark hickories, bald cypresses, river birches and the seedless Cherokee Sweetgum, the arboretum will include art installations and educational assets like QR codes to educate visitors about the trees.
- The center will be laid with sod in order to create room for picnics and gatherings surrounded by the trees.
Catch up quick: The arboretum emerged as a concept about two years ago, Walker told Axios.
- It received a $50,000 donation from the Rotary Club last year, and more donations are expected, he said. Work like irrigation, fencing and concrete is being done in-house by city crews.
- The arboretum will also preserve and incorporate mature dogwood trees planted in the early 1950s for the first terminal building at the old Huntsville Airport that once stood where the park is now.
What they're saying: "It was like: OK, we've got these really great trees. How do we preserve them?" Sothers said.
- The arboretum will incorporate 20 or so magnolia trees from the magnolia garden at the old city hall, City Arborist Marc Byers said.
The bottom line: "We felt like that was the ideal spot for people to take a break ... and have a place that they can go and sit down and enjoy nature," Walker said.