For the first time in more than a decade, the public is able to visit the University of Connecticut and see an orange tree that is believed to predate the university itself.
The citrus tree, a piece of living UConn history, was donated to the university in 1955. According to oral history, the tree was started some time in the 1800s by Theodore Sedgwick (TS) Gold.
Gold was a member of the original Board of Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural School, which eventually became UConn. About 50 years after his death, the Gold family donated his orange tree to the university.
“He was a very forward thinking person so I to think to honor his memory," said Nick Pettit, floriculture greenhouse manager. "He really was a forefather or modern agriculture.”
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The tree has moved several times in its nearly 70 years on campus. For the last decade, it has lived behind locked doors in an area of campus that is closed off to the public for research purposes.
"And it suffered for that reason. It was in a corner. We took care of it, but no one really loved it," said Shelley Durocher with the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture.
After a year of planning, a team took on the task of moving the tree this summer. It was quite an operation - requiring the team to prune and delicately repot the tree before traveling through campus and across the street.
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"It had a lot of moving parts to get it all done in one day," Pettit said. "All hands on deck."
The tree's new home is in the Floriculture Greenhouse. They hope this will be its home for the next 100+ years.
The department plans to use the tree as an educational resource for students. Since the tree's big move, the team has already tracked new growth.
"To see it thrive after all these years and to be apart of that, it is neat," Durocher said. "It is special."
“It is just being respectful to history and trying to preserve that future generations can enjoy it, too," Pettit said.
The Floriculture Greenhouse at 1395 Storrs Rd. is open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
