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A brief summary of the history of the Priscilla Bullitt Collins Trail… Between Skinner Hall and Olmstead lies 4 acres of land currently known as the Priscilla Bullitt Collins Trail. This same area was once highly valued among county residents, scientists, plant conservationists, and Vassar students and faculty as the Dutchess County Outdoor Ecological Laboratory (a.k.a. Dutchess County Botanical Garden) in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Until 1922, the area was dominated by two common species: a vast bed of poison ivy and two oak trees. By the efforts of Professor Edith Roberts and other Vassar faculty and students, the site was converted into a botanical garden and outdoor laboratory. Its purpose included the conservation of native species, the fostering of student and faculty ecological and botanical research, and the creation of a space to observe and study native species in their natural habitats. By the 1940’s the laboratory incorporated almost all of Dutchess County's 2,000 identified native species in 28 out of 30 associations known to exist in the county. When Edith Roberts retired from Vassar in 1948, the outdoor laboratory was not maintained. Years of neglect and bouts of flooding rendered the ecological laboratory an abandoned wetland overgrown by many invasive species. In 1995 the Priscilla Bullitt Collins Trail was built as a boardwalk running lengthwise through the marshy area. Since the building of this trail, Buildings and Grounds Services at Vassar College has put effort into re-establishing this area as a habitat that supports the growth and colonization of native wetland species. The project will continue efforts to conserve native New York flora and create a space in which students, staff, and residents can experience and appreciate the diverse flora native to the mid-Hudson Valley.
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