Arms Forest has a very rich human land use history, ranging from being farmland passed from family to family, to being used as a quarry, to now being surrounded by suburbs and Burlington High School. The land was owned by Thaddeus Fletcher, until he sold it to Philip and Esther Manwell in 1868. The Manwells created a very successful dairy farm which included the land which is now Arms Forest, and many more acres stretching east, over North Avenue. However, what is now Arms Forest was not used for agriculture due to its thin soil and exposed bedrock. In 1898, Philip Manwell died and Esther married Allen B. Kingsman. After Esther died in 1910, Allen continued the farming legacy of the land instead of selling it, maintaining a successful operation. After Allen’s death in 1921, the farm would have been passed onto to Esther’s nephew, Philip Sherman. However, Philip Sherman was killed on a ship which was attacked by a German U-Boat in 1918. The farm was then purchased by Willard Arms. After years of successful operation of a dairy farm, Willard was asked to sell his land to the City of Burlington in order to build a new high school, and keep up with the expanding population of the city. The only condition of this sale was to leave the forested area, previously unused for agriculture due to its thin soil and exposed bedrock, untouched. This was the first protected forest in Burlington to be used for education. There is another parallel path of land use history going on at the same time as the farming operations. From the late 19th century/early 20th century to around 1925, a corner of the Manwell farm was being leased to the Burlington Marble company, and used as a quarry. This was due to the fact that the dolostone bedrock in this area is rich in limestone. However, after about 20 years of this operation, it was deemed not financially viable to continue the quarrying, and it was abandoned. Due to this rich land use history of the area, and unique bedrock geology, the Arms Forest is home to a very diverse forest and unique plants for the area which require high levels of calcium to thrive (Arms Forest, 2019).
Works Cited
Arms Forest. (2019, May 13) Retrieved from enjoyburlington.com/arms- forest/.
Sean Beckett (Photographer). Excavated blocks left in abandoned dolostone “marble” quarry [Photograph]. Retrieved December 2, 2020, from https://enjoyburlington.com/arms-forest/
Unknown (Photographer). (1937). Outline of the Arms’ property over 1937 aerial imagery of Burlington’s North End [Photograph]. Retrieved December 2, from 2020, https://enjoyburlington.com/arms-forest/