The Block Island Gardeners have celebrated Arbor Day with the younger students at the Block Island School for decades. This year it was special for a couple of reasons – Arbor Day 2022 was the 150th anniversary of the holiday, and, due to Covid, the local activities were skipped for the past two years.
Each year the sixth grade, under the guidance of teacher Shannon Cotter-Marsella and Kim Gaffett of The Nature Conservancy, plants a larger tree on the grounds of the school. This year it was a magnolia, and the kids planted it right on the front lawn where it joins other trees from Arbor Days past.
Before going back to class, sixth grade was the first group of students to receive the gift of trees from the Gardeners to take home and plant.Steve Robison, who now is the proud holder of the Boston Post Cane, signifying that he is the oldest island resident, was the master of ceremonies. Assisted by other members of the Gardeners, he gave a brief history of the holiday, which was started by J. Sterling Morton, of the blue box of salt fame, when he was in Nebraska and bemoaned the lack
