The Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum is an arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 of 13 hectares (32.1 acre), located at 101 Ferry Road, Bristol, Rhode Island

Bristol, Rhode Island

Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....

, mid-way between Newport

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 and Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, on Bristol Harbor with views over Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...

. It includes a mansion, with a 4 hectares (9.9 acre) lawn and over 300 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of woody plants in its arboretum and gardens, including both native and exotic species.

The Mansion and its grounds were established in the 1890s by Augustus and Bessie Van Wickle as their summer retreat. Augustus Van Wickle was from Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6% from the 2000 census count .-Greater Hazleton:...

, with a fortune in the coal-mining business, and donor of the Van Wickle gates at Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

. Today's grounds are primarily the design of John DeWolf, and date between 1896 and 1913.

Blithwold's grounds include species from North America, Europe, China and Japan. Specimen trees include magnolia

Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....

 (Magnolia spp.), linden

Tilia

Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...

 (Tilia spp.), Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Black Tupelo

Black Tupelo

Nyssa sylvatica, commonly known as black tupelo, tupelo, or black gum, is a medium-sized deciduous tree native to eastern North America from New England and southern Ontario south to central Florida and eastern Texas, as well as Mexico.-Names:Nyssa sylvaticas genus name refers to a Greek water...

 (Nyssa sylvatica), Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), Franklinia

Franklinia

Franklinia is a monotypic genus in the tea plant family, Theaceae. The sole species in this genus is a flowering tree, Franklinia alatamaha, commonly called the Franklin tree, and native to the Altamaha River valley in Georgia in the southeastern United States...

 (Franklinia alatamaha), Eastern Hemlock

Eastern Hemlock

Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...

 (Tsuga canadensis), various oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

s (Quercus spp.) and beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

es (Fagus spp.). Other notable trees include a weeping Pagoda Tree (Styphnolobium japonicum 'Pendula'), Hiba

Hiba

Hiba can refer to:Hiba is an Arabic name meaning "gift from God"It is used as a name for women for example "Hiba Hamdan", "Hiba Aziz", "Hiba Fathallah", "Hiba Raza", "Hiba Farooq" and last "Hiba Qureshi".*Ibas *the conifer Thujopsis...

 (Thujopsis dolobrata), Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), and Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica). The grounds also include English Yews

Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...

 (Taxus baccata) and Eastern Junipers (Juniperus virginiana), as well as what is claimed to be the largest Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) on the East Coast, planted in 1911, and currently about 100 feet (30.5 m) tall.

Blithewold's Bamboo Grove covers an area nearly the size of a tennis court, and is planted with Phyllostachys

Phyllostachys

Phyllostachys is a genus of bamboo. The species are native to Asia with a large number of species found in Central China, but can now be found in many temperate and semi-tropical areas around the world as cultivated plants or escapes from cultivation...

 aureosulcata, the Yellow-groove bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

, which grows to 10 metres (32.8 ft) tall.

Blithewold has maintained contacts with the Arnold Arboretum ever since 1926, when staff botanists visited Blithewold to see the Chinese toon tree (Toona

Toona

Toona is a genus of five species of trees in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, native from Afghanistan south to India, and east to North Korea, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia...

sinensis) in flower for what was believed to be the first time in the United States.