Louise W. Moore Park Arboretum

The Louise W. Moore Park Arboretum is situated within the 120-acre Louise W. Moore County Park in Easton, Northampton County, PA. The park arboretum, designated on the 90-acre west side of the park, was designed by the famous George E. Patton & Associates, the most prolific landscape architectural firm of twentieth century Philadelphia, whose work includes the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and both the main campus and the Ambler campus of Temple University.

George E. Patton & Associates’ revised arboretum plan for Louise Moore Park from 1979, which is in the park archives, included 300 major and minor tree species from North America, Asia and Europe, as well as 26 acres of wildflower meadows to be planted at the park. While as-built arboretum plans are not known to exist, many dozens of exemplary specimens of mature trees and shrubs from these three continents can be found thriving today in the arboretum for public enjoyment and appreciation of this global diversity of plant life at Louise Moore Park. In addition to the original plantings from the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Louise Moore Park Arboretum today is also home to 46 grafted nut trees from the historical John Hersey Nut & Edible Fruit Tree Nursery & Farm in Doylestown, PA. This conservatory collection of eastern agroforestry species was established at the arboretum in recent years in partnership with the North American Nut Growers Association for agriculturists, foresters, climate specialists, soil scientists, cultural resource professionals and the public.

To commemorate the 1987 bicentennial of the signing of the US Constitution, seven eastern hemlocks—the state tree of Pennsylvania—were planted in the Louise Moore Park Arboretum in an area known as Bicentennial Grove. Additionally, a seven-acre stand of oak trees hundreds of years old and of enormous size are located in the far south end of the Louise Moore Park Arboretum. This stand of giant red and white oaks is called Matson’s Woods and was inducted into the Old Growth Forest Network in 2019.