Westerly Library and Wilcox Park

The Wilcox Park arboretum is home to 8 RI Champion trees as designated by the RI Tree Council. These trees, along with approximately one-third of the trees in the arboretum are individually labeled by genus, species, and common name. In fact, the trees and select woody shrubs in the park have been inventoried in a comprehensive database in Google Maps which is accessible to the public by QR code or link.

The Wilcox Park arboretum has been home to a number of public educational programs for years. This year we will host the 41^st annual Garden Market Fair that boasts a variety of local vendors and community organizations, complete with alpacas and a host of children and adult activities. For years, the URI Master Gardeners have led monthly Specimen Tree and Native Plant tours on the second and fourth Saturdays from May through October. Private tree tours are also conducted ~10 times per year. Patrons are very appreciative and often return more than once over the growing season as the trees transition from leafing out, to bloom, to producing fruit, to preparing for winter. If scheduling is prohibitive, patrons can pick up a hard copy of the self-guided tour of Wilcox Park at the Public Service desk in the library for a small fee and tour our specimen trees, monuments, and gardens at their leisure.

From the newly planted grove of dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) to the well established Cherry Alee, along with the recognized 8 RI Champion trees, this historic 15-acre arboretum hosts a wide variety of trees and woody shrubs comprised of 159 different tree species and 43 unique cultivars.