College Park Norway Spruce

​​As the most populous tree in College Park, the Norway Spruce dominates one of the few dedicated green spaces on Dartmouth’s campus. A small forest on Dartmouth campus, it serves as a brief escape for Dartmouth students to relax in nature. But this small forest tells a much more involved story of the College’s relationship with what was here before it. These woods came about through deliberate development rather than preservation, as one might think.

The Norway Spruce is especially key to understanding the way that aesthetic views of wilderness have changed over time. In 1773, Elezear Wheelock wrote,“A little more than three years ago there was nothing to be seen here but a horrid wilderness” (1931 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine). Wilderness was characterized as horrid, reflecting a need for the forest to be civilized. In fact, students would chop down a tree at the beginning of each yearas a symbol of their continued colonization of Dartmouth wilderness. This Norway spruce was not there at that time– as you turn and look around you, imagine everything chopped down. Eventually,aesthetics changed, and the college hoped to build a park, and “make a grand old wood” (Dartmouth Alumni Mag). In 1854, the trustees decided that college park was “appropriated as college grounds and never more for pasturage” (Dartmouth alumni mag)In 1867, Judge Joel Parker gifted the college 15,000 European trees. These included Norway spruces, European larches, Scotch pines, Austrian pines, and Norway maples. There were two professors who built paths through the forest. . The Norway spruce was the most successful of the transplanted species as shown by a 1931 survey (Alumni mag 1931). Later administrations looked after College Park more intensely and cut young growth to give a more open appearance. In 1931, Frederick S. Page reflected on the history of College Park, hoping that walking through college park will produce an effect of harmony and goodness: “Subconsciously, perhaps, he realizes that he leaf-carpeted earth, the trees and the quiet of the place are in harmony and that the picture is good'' (Alumni mag 1931). He hoped that the park would not be developed in the future: “Let us hope that in the park the narrow leaf-paved paths may never be superseded by wide roads with their attendant traffic” (Alumni mag 1931). Currently, the park is often used by students, campus groups, and is even a common event space for politicians running for president as they campaign before the New Hampshire primary.

The Norway Spruce can be identified by its pyramidal shape and its graceful branches, luxuriantly fringed with downward hanging foliage (Forever Green). Unique to it are 4–7-inch cones, which open early in their second year to release naked seeds with long wings (Forever Green). It rarely reaches 100 feet in North America but has been known to grow above 200 feet in Europe (Forever Green). Some negative qualities include susceptibility to insect damage and a tendency for foliage to become ragged and sparse. That said, it has an attractive shape, retention of branches all the way to the ground, medium to fast rate of growth, and an ability to withstand cold temperatures. The Norway Spruce has clearly taken root in the park, despite its artificial introduction.

Hughes, M. K. (2000). Forever green: The Dartmouth College campus : an arboretum of northern trees. Hanover, NH : Class of 1950, Dartmouth College. http://archive.org/details/forevergreendart0000hugh

Heck, M. (n.d.). A History of College Park. Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/articles/history-college-park

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. March 1st 1931.