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(Phase I now open)
Source: Greg Grieco
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LOCATION AND HOURS: H.O.
SMITH BOTANIC GARDENS
The H.O.
Smith Botanic Gardens in the Arboretum are adjacent to the
University
Park campus near the intersection of Park Avenue and Bigler
Road. The entrance to the parking lot is on Bigler Road, facing
the parking lot for the Lewis Katz Building which houses the Dickinson
School of Law.
The gardens are open to the public every
day from dawn until dusk, and there is no admission charge. Please
abide by the garden etiquette rules that are posted at the main
entrances. Doing so will help us to preserve the gardens and make
everyone's visit enjoyable.
Directions
(See the University
Park vicinity map.)
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Visitors arriving by automobile from distant locations should
exit the Mt. Nittany Expressway at Park Avenue and proceed
southwest to Bigler Road.
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Those arriving from the south on Routes 26 or 45 should take
Route 26 to Whitehall Road/University Drive and thence to
Park Avenue and turn left.
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Those approaching from the University Park Airport should
travel southwest and then southeast on Fox Hill/Fox Hollow
Road to Park Avenue and turn right.
The woodlands and fields in the Arboretum can be accessed by
foot from the McKee Street/Clinton Avenue bike path as it traverses
Big Hollow, from Big Hollow Road between the Mushroom Test Facility
at the edge of campus and the Army Reserve Center along Fox Hollow
Road, from the termination of East Aaron Drive in the College
Heights neighborhood, and from Toftrees along the Bellefonte Central
Railroad grade, which passes through over a mile of Arboretum
property.
MORE ABOUT THE LOCALE: PASTORAL ARBORETUM SITE
ADJACENT TO UNIVERSITY PARK
The Arboretum at Penn State is being built on an undeveloped,
370-acre parcel of land immediately adjacent to the University
Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University in State College,
Pennsylvania. The property is bounded by Park Avenue (along the
northwest edge of campus), the neighborhoods of College Heights
and Overlook Heights, and Interstate 99 (currently the Route 322/
Mt. Nittany Expressway). A small pine plantation and Big Hollow
Road (at the edge of University farmlands) form the northeastern
border as shown in an aerial
view of the locale.
The Arboretum is located at the border of USDA Plant Hardiness
Zones 5 and 6, in the northernmost valley of the Ridge and Valley
physiographic province, and surrounded by Nittany, Bald Eagle,
and Tussey Mountains (Click
here for a map of the area's terrain). The Arboretum property
lies just a few miles from the geographic center of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania. Its geographic location is particularly significant
because The Arboretum at Penn State will be the only institutional
Arboretum within the large central region of Pennsylvania (map
of PA arboreta).
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