Where in Haverford can you find a State Champion fir, an outdoor show of art made from recycled materials, and a free evening choral concert within one four-week stretch? All three are on the Haverford College campus. Its Arboretum's 2.2-mile Nature Trail is open to the community and runs along the edge of campus.
The trail matters most from early November through mid-December. Once the canopy is down, the evergreen collection is easier to read. For one weekend, art goes up along the trail. And as daylight shortens, the College's concerts and talks begin around the time a walk would end. So a late afternoon loop on campus can finish inside a gallery or recital hall.
What the Bare Branches Expose
The trail follows the edge of the 216-acre campus. It passes the Pinetum, the athletic fields, Woolman Walk, the meadows, Duck Pond and the pollinator garden. In summer, much of that is a wall of green. In November, the conifers stand out.
The Ryan Pinetum is the anchor. It is an 18-acre conifer collection holding 27 pine species, laid out in numbered areas, and gold labels mark the State Champion trees. In 2024, the Arboretum listed nine State Champion trees on campus. They include firs and spruces in the Pinetum and a willow oak by the sports fields. Look for the gold labels when the deciduous trees around them are bare.
Some of the oldest trees on campus are easiest to pick out in this season:
- The Treaty Elm. Haverford identifies it as the last survivor of seven American elm grafts planted on campus in 1915. It descends from the elm linked to William Penn's 1682 treaty.
- The swamp white oak on Lloyd Green. It is one of three trees still standing from William Carvill's original campus plan, according to the Arboretum's account of the College's original oaks.
- The two Carvill bur oaks. One stands near Lutnick Library. The other stands between Founders and Barclay halls.
The named gardens also look different once the leaves fall. The Arboretum lists the VCAM Rain Garden, the Peace Garden, Hilles Garden, and the Penn State Certified Pollinator Garden. Its Asian Gardens page adds the Gertrude C. Teaf Garden and the Denis Asian Garden. Late fall shows their structure: stone, paths, evergreen shrubs and the shape of each bed. This April's Arbor Day planting went in behind VCAM, so one of the newest trees on campus sits beside the Rain Garden.
For One Weekend, the Trail Becomes a Gallery
From Friday, November 13, through Sunday, November 15, the College uses it as an exhibition space for the third edition of REBIRTH. The College's event listing describes the show this way:
"Come experience creative works by the Haverford Community nestled in nature as we focus on the 'rebirth' of recycled materials into works of art!"
The show is open to the public. It opens at noon on Friday, and visitors can park in the South and Visitor's lots. Because this is the third edition, REBIRTH is now a repeat fixture on the College's fall calendar. It also comes at the right point in the season: late enough for open sightlines through bare trees, and early enough that the trail is still in its fall condition.
The same weekend, the indoor galleries are open too. Eco-Social Realism runs September 10 through December 19, 2026, across several venues. Haverford's Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery lists hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, November 13, and names the general public as an audience. On Sunday, November 15, Mike Disfarmer: Portraitist of the American Heart Land 1915 to 1959 is listed in the ARTS Atrium Gallery from noon to 6 p.m., also open to the public. Taken together, that weekend offers outdoor art on the trail, a group exhibition indoors, and a photography show, all on one campus.
When the Light Goes, the Calendar Moves Indoors
After REBIRTH, most of the public campus calendar is in the evening, after a daylight walk would be over. The Arboretum's own programs run through early December, and the College's concerts and talks continue through mid-month.
- Thursday, October 29, 4:30 to 7 p.m. The Arboretum's Fall Festival sets up in the nursery area next to the Facilities Greenhouse. It includes mini pumpkin and gourd painting, an apple cider station, face painting, a painted-rock scavenger hunt and a jack-o'-lantern-lit night hike. The hike, crafts and games are free. No food is sold, parking is in the South Lot, and the event is canceled if bad weather is predicted.
- Wednesday, November 18, 7 to 8 p.m. Predatory Insects in Your Garden is a public Zoom program. Registration is required, and nonmembers pay $10.
- Monday, November 23, 7 p.m. Understanding Keystone Natives is on the Arboretum calendar.
- Wednesday, December 2, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Britt Paris gives a public lecture, "AI Is Not Inevitable," in Lutnick Library. That is the same building where one of the Carvill bur oaks stands.
- Thursday, December 3, 7 to 8 p.m. The Arboretum's Virtual Nature Book Club discusses The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger. It is free, but registration is required.
- Friday, December 4, 7 to 9 p.m. The Bi-Co Flute Choir Winter Concert, open to the public, is in Roberts Hall.
- Sunday, December 6, noon to 6 p.m. The Disfarmer exhibition is listed again in the ARTS Atrium Gallery.
- Thursday, December 10, 8 p.m. The Fall Concert by the Chamber Singers of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges, free and open to the public, takes place in Jaharis Recital Hall.
- Tuesday, December 15. Haverford's Fall Chamber Music Concert No. 2 is held off campus, in Bryn Mawr College's Goodhart Music Room. The event page includes livestream details.
The Arboretum's two November programs are about what happens in a garden over the dormant season: insects that keep pests in check, and native plants that support other species. The December book club is about how plants sense their surroundings. These are topics for a time of year when gardens are dormant.
The Rules That Shape the Season
The College publishes the terms for using the trail, and some of them line up well with a late-fall schedule.
Parking. From Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Visitor Parking Lot is the only lot open to visitors. Outside those hours, other campus lots are allowed. The November and December evening events listed above start at or after 7 p.m., except the December 2 lecture, and the October 29 festival runs past 5 p.m. The weekend art shows fall outside the weekday window altogether. Visitors to most of the season's events therefore have more parking options than a weekday-morning walker. Check the Arboretum FAQ for the current directions to the Visitor Lot.
Dogs. Pets must be leashed at all times and are not allowed on the athletic fields. Waste goes in a trash can.
Bikes and groups. Bikes are not allowed on the Nature Trail. Groups and organized events need to coordinate with the College in advance.
Hours and winter. The Arboretum's visitor guide gives access as daily from dawn to dusk, except on Commencement Day in May. It also says the trail is not maintained in winter and is used at your own risk.
The last rule is why the season has a clear window. Under the dawn-to-dusk guidance, shorter November days cut into daylight walking time. Once winter arrives, the trail is unmaintained. The REBIRTH weekend and the December 4 flute choir concert both fall inside that window, after the leaves are down and before the trail reaches its winter condition. For walkers who want to see the Pinetum with clear views and still have good footing, mid-November through the first week of December is the stretch that fits.
The Chamber Singers concert on December 10 can still be the season's last event on campus, since it takes place indoors, in Jaharis Recital Hall.
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