Bayard Cutting Arboretum

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Bayard Cutting Arboretum (BCA) is a 691-acre tract in Great River, NY, along the Connetquot River on the south shore of Long Island. The property, constructed in 1886, was originally owned by Mr. William Bayard Cutting and his family. Mr. Cutting saw potential in the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, and, utilizing plans developed by the noted landscape architecture firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, began the arboretum in 1887.

BCA is home to many unique specimens, extensive collections of oaks, hollies and rhododendrons, and expansive native woodlands. However, the most notable collections are those including conifers. Mr. Cutting began to plant his conifer collection in the late 1800s, with the support of Dr. Charles Sprague Sargent, then Director of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts. Mr. Cutting had an affinity for firs and spruces because of their kempt and conical habits, in contrast to what he saw as the unruly appearance of pines. He appreciated rare specimens that could grow both in his backyard and across the world. Some of his original plantings can be seen today in the heart of the Bayard Cutting Arboretum, the Old Pinetum...See full article.