BOSWELL BOTANY TRAIL AT SVAC

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The Southern Vermont Arts Center’s Boswell Botany Trail, a rambling, three-quarter mile nature trail dotted with rustic seats and benches, began its long career in 1917 as the nature walk of the original Webster estate. It was officially designated as the Boswell Botany Trail, in honor of its creator, Mrs. Harold “Petie” Boswell, in 1964. The trail was re-created and greatly expanded in 2001 thanks to funds from the Nichols Foundation and work of the Garden Club of Manchester, whose members maintain the trail currently. 

Today the trail has many varieties of wildflowers, trees and flora, and most of the 67 varieties of fern found in Vermont, all in a unique glacial microclimate. The trail is easily explored at a leisurely pace by most walkers in a half-hour or less.