Sustainability

Tennessee Tech Arboretum

Welcome to the Tennessee Tech Arboretum! Arboretums are named collections of woody perennial plants or spaces devoted to specimens of trees and shrubs; in other words, they are a museum for trees.

Efforts are made to label prominent specimens and catalog members of the collection. The Arboretum’s certifying body is the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. Through its program that was founded in 1991, its goal is to develop a network of arboreta across Tennessee that are well-maintained, open to the public, and proactively utilized for experiential education about trees and the important role they play in communities.

The Tennessee Tech Arboretum, in its current incarnation, was started as an initiative from the Office of Sustainability in 2020. The campus’ 267 acres currently has a presence of over 90 tree species. As a University, we take pride in educating our students and, with the Arboretum, we can also educate our community and visitors via our landscape. Informational tree tags entertain anyone interested in discovery. A planned interactive database for the trees will serve students taking courses in the life sciences.

We hope you enjoy our Arboretum and that it brings you closer with the native and cultivated life in Tennessee courtesy of Tennessee Technological University.

Arboretum Map
Historic Trees

Now sitting in the heart of Tennessee Tech University, our twin Post Oaks pictured to the left, both over 300 years old, have seen the development of Middle Tennessee. The two sit alongside the historic Old Walton Road and have witnessed the migration of various tribes and people, such as the Cherokee and Yuchi. They would have seen the formation of the route created by grazing bison herded by Native Americans. Soon after, early pioneers followed these routes from Knoxville, TN.

In 1890, the Tennessee Central Railroad was built along Walton Road, connecting Nashville and Knoxville.

The trees would have also witnessed the burning of what is now known as the Old Burnt Stand where Tucker Stadium currently stands. Travelers from the eastern parts of Tennessee would come here for lodging during their long journeys.

One of our historic trees resides by T.J. Farr, and the other one can be found behind the ROTC building.

TUFC Twin Oaks Website
Coorts Arboretum

The Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum on the Tennessee Tech campus was officially dedicated on March 7, 1997 (Arbor Day). It encompassed all of the grounds from Oakley Hall to Derryberry Hall, bordering Dixie Avenue. The Cookeville Tree Board, of which Coorts was a member, proposed the memorial, and Tennessee Tech and the Board followed up with the plan to establish the Arboretum. The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council and the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. certified the Gerald D. Coorts Memorial Arboretum as a Level 2 arboretum in August 2003.

After the dedication ceremony in Oakley Hall, a white beech memorial tree was planted on the Quadrangle in his honor, also, a stone memorial (now located in front of Oakley Hall) was erected, and the plaque on the stone reads:
"Dr. Coorts' life was a dedication to the beautification of God's earth through sight and sound …"

When the memorial stone was relocated from the Quadrangle to its current location, it was placed upright on a concrete pad. Before the concrete was dry, leaf impressions were made in a concrete "lip" of the pad. One leaf from every tree located in the Arboretum at the time was pressed into the wet concrete. The border area of the pad was reserved for imprinted bricks, which were sold at $50 per brick to raise funds to support the maintenance and expansion of the Arboretum. The project is complete, with some 60 bricks sold and installed.

Although no longer an active arboretum, this history shows Tech's long-standing commitment to the care and significance of its trees and green spaces.