Since opening its doors to students in 1965, Haywood Community College (HCC) has grown into a beautiful 120-acre main campus located in Clyde, North Carolina. Doan Ogden, the renowned landscape architect from Asheville, North Carolina, was commissioned to develop the original campus master landscape plan. Ogden’s design incorporated open space, distant vistas, and the preservation of the original forest at the center of campus.

The woody plant collection and campus grounds continued to grow, and plans for an arboretum at HCC were officially approved by the board of trustees in 1977. John Palmer was appointed the founding director of the arboretum and expanded planting areas throughout the campus. Notable features of the arboretum include an iconic allée of willow oaks, a one-acre rhododendron garden, an extensive oak collection, an Asian-inspired Zen garden, pollinator garden spaces, two moon trees from Nasa’s Apollo 14 and Aretmis 1 missions, and a mill pond.

Today, the arboretum at HCC continues to serve as both an inspirational landscape for residents of Haywood County, North Carolina and a living laboratory for the curricula offered on campus. The arboretum is woven into a broader network of hiking trails, a disc golf course, and an art trail that invite visitors to explore the grounds.