The Golf Cart: New Accessibility for All!

Those who vis­it the Arbore­tum know that it is not with­out its chal­lenges. Hik­ing the trail to the Great Oak, ram­bling the Native Plant Trail, or climb­ing the hill from the Farm­house to the Meet­ing House requires not a lit­tle bit of phys­i­cal bal­ance and sta­mi­na. Those who are debil­i­tat­ed from an injury or age may find that some of the loveli­est places in the Arbore­tum are out of their reach.

Enter the golf cart! Lan­dis Board Pres­i­dent Jim Paley was aware that Ed Miller, one of Lan­dis’ ​“liv­ing trea­sures,” was find­ing it increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult to car­ry the water nec­es­sary to sus­tain new plant­i­ngs along the Native Plant Trail he curates. Jim knew a per­son who might be will­ing to help: Dr. Russ Newkirk, an emi­nent pathol­o­gist in Albany. Dr. Newkirk gra­cious­ly donat­ed a golf cart to the Arbore­tum that has enabled Ed to add two new col­lec­tions, ferns and moss­es, to the Native Plant Trail.

Just ask Ed what the cart means: ​“The golf cart has been a won­der­ful boon to me. BC (Before Cart), I was lim­it­ed in what I could do in a day by what I could car­ry. In the spring it was about 25 pounds of fer­til­iz­er, plus maybe a prun­ing shear. I was only good for a morn­ing’s work, and climb­ing back up the hill from the col­lec­tion did me in for the day.

“Now in the spring I can car­ry enough fer­til­iz­er to give every plant the meal it needs, and in the same trip, take some plants to replace win­ter kill, and tools to dig holes and more. And after lunch I still have ener­gy to go back down and fin­ish my work list. Dur­ing the sum­mer, I can car­ry about 30 gal­lons of water to encour­age new plants and if that isn’t enough, I can come back up the hill, fill up, and con­tin­ue water­ing. AC (After Cart), I have giv­en tours to vis­i­tors who could not have oth­er­wise seen our native col­lec­tion. Some of these vis­i­tors would not have even been able to see the bog gardens.” 

The golf cart is a wel­come addi­tion to our resources, mak­ing many of the Arboretum’s hold­ings acces­si­ble for all, regard­less of phys­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions. If you would like to uti­lize the cart dur­ing your next vis­it, please con­tact us at (518) 875‑6935 or by email at info@​landisarboretum.​org.