Phenology & Place

My most recent visit to Cenntenial woods was right before the snow came, the trees were almost completely naked with their former leaves stiff at their tree’s base. The ground was considerably less muddy then my last visit since there was no flooding recently, and the brook’s water level had gone back to its normal depth. Many of the beautiful colored leaves I had seen and taken pictures of were crisp and brown or had fallen to the ground by now. 

After going deeper into the woods and up a steep hill I discovered the Burlington City line marker. As I climbed down the hill I jumped to avoid the American Toad inches below on foot. American Toads are one of two of the toad species in Vermont.

I walked around the concrete bunker again to take a closer look at some of the graffiti and its construction. The bunker is a result of a militia that was founded in the 1760s called The Green Mountain Boys and was used for training purposes.

As I continue to visit Centennial Woods and go deeper and deeper and spend more and more time I have formed a connection with the woods. I love to search the woods for jack and the pulpits, living organisms like the American Toad, and the arcane structures that I can research more about when I get back to my dorm. Centennial Woods is constantly changing but it also holds so much history of Vermont and New England. For example, the Green Mountain Boys were formed by Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. Today the bunker is used as a canvas for people who venture far enough into the woods. Centennial Woods has become a place where you can jog, bike, walk your dog on the trails, a place where you can bushwack and find the city line marker or oddly placed broken glass bottles, and it’s also a place to allow yourself to be completely absorbed by its nature and beauty.