2012 Fall Remarkable Trees of Virginia Field TripWith Arboretum Director, Jan Sievers MahonSaturday, October 20, 2012. Field Trip meets in the parking lot of the Elkton Municipal Building at 8:30 am, and returns there approximately 5:00 p.m. Cost: $20 per person, pre-registration is needed.See Witness Trees, standing at their battlefield sites for both first and second Battles of Fredericksburg in the Civil War.Perhaps reaching for the sky when English settlement took place in Virginia 400 years ago, the Brompton White Oak today is magnificent in its age. An oak that witnessed the Revolutionary War and it is possible the 'Father of Country,' George Washington who grew up in Fredericksburg, would have seen this tree. The old oak was around to witness war again when during the Battle of Fredericksburg of the Civil War, the famous war photographer Mathew Brady photographed a group of Union Army troops resting against the tree's trunk. See the champion Chinquapin and Bur oaks of Elkton, and then the Brompton Oak at Mary Washington University (MWU), and the historic gnarled Catalpas of Chatham Manor, with talks by MWU and National Park Service horticulture experts on this exciting and educational Remarkable Trees Field Trip. Enjoy an all-day van tour visiting regional sites that are home to some of our area's most incredible trees. The fieldtrip is taken rain or shine. Pack your lunch and dress for the weather. ...read more

Fall Color Carriage RidesFor the cost of a movie, make a memory of a lifetime.Saturday, October 27, 2012 noon-4 pm Not merely a carriage ride, but fall color carriage rides in a woodland garden setting! Create a memory that goes beyond ordinary to surprising, even exceptional in beauty and romance. In a luxurious vis-à-vis carriage, riders are drawn through the woods by beautiful Belgium or Percheron horse teams. Your carriage ride celebration of fall leaf color can help make any whimsical or romantic dream come true. This is "Leaf-Peeping" in style! Make your EJC Arboretum JMU Homecoming Weekend carriage ride a family tradition! $10 for adults, $7 children 7 years and younger. Carriage seats six. Private carriage $58.See website for inclement weather notice. call: 568-3194 to reserve ...read more

Don't know if any one else in Rocktown... the Burg.... likes to take walks or run at the arboretum... but the trees at the arboretum are beginning to show their fall colors.  It's one way to lessen the blahs that hit when summer is over, and daylight shortens.  Love the color changes in the arboretum woods.  If there was a favorite, it's the sugar maple.  They're so beautiful. And on October 17th, arboretum enthusiasts can enjoy fall color by horse-drawn carriage rides.  Romantic things to do don't get better than this. ...read more