Last Updated: April 21, 2010

Renovations at Bailey Arboretum

• LC Colgate
The Bailey House at the Bailey Arboretum on Bayville Road in Lattingtown is now under scaffolding, the first sign of all the work that is being done to make it an even more valuable community resource. Two years ago, Friends of Bailey Arboretum commissioned an engineering study that confirmed that the house, built more than 175 years ago, needed substantial stabilization. Nassau County’s Department of Public Works outlined an ambitious restoration process and county legislators designated money for the arboretum in the most recent capital budget.
Bailey Arboretum has regularly been cited by senior county officials as the premier example of effective public-private partnerships in restoring and maintaining Nassau’s enviable number of parks and preserves. Under the agreement between the county and Friends of Bailey Arboretum, the county is responsible for the structural integrity and outside maintenance of the buildings while the Friends design and manage programs, maintain the grounds, and pay for interior improvements.
Over the next two months, the structural work will be wrapped up. Bailey House will have a new roof, and the first floor rooms will be entirely refurbished. At the same time, the Bailey greenhouse is being renovated by the Friends in collaboration with the North Country Garden Club. The Arboretum’s annual picnic, scheduled this year for Sunday, June 13, will celebrate the reopening of Bailey House and the dedication of the restored greenhouse in honor of Sadie E. Scudder, a long-time Friend of the Arboretum and leading member of the Garden Club.
The Bailey Arboretum, a forty-two acre arboretum located in Lattingtown, is situated on the former estate of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bailey. The arboretum is home to more than 600 varieties of trees and shrubs from around the world, including such rare specimens as dwarf Nikko Firs from Japan, blue Atlas Cedars from North Africa, Korean Pines and several Chinese Dawn Redwoods, a species classified by the World Conservation Union as "critically endangered" in the wild.

 

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