A few miles south of Newark in the rolling hill of central Ohio is Dawes Arboretum. The remarkable attraction began when, in 1918, Beman and Bertie Dawes purchased 140 acres and several mature trees native to the area.
By the Arboretum’s founding in 1929 and 50,000 trees later, the grounds had doubled to 293 acres.
Beman Dawes aimed to inspire people to plant trees. He planted trees striving to obtain specimens from all over the world that would survive in central Ohio.
Today the collections include more than 5,300 different types of plants, with more than 15,400 on the grounds.
Visitors can hike the miles of trails or take an auto tour. I opted for the auto tour and used pull-offs to explore specific areas, including the woodlands, flower gardens, Dawes Lake, and Daweswood, the former home of Beman and Bertie Dawes.
For more information on the Arboretum, click here. For more details on Licking County, click here.
