"People don't realize how much more it is than simply beautiful woodland," Director of Outdoor Programs Andrew Harvard '71 said. "Some of us who spend a lot of time there working, playing and learning think of it as Dartmouth's north campus."
As part of the celebration, the Department of Outdoor Programs set up self-guided hiking trails, allowing attendees to explore the outdoors. On Saturday, visitors attended scheduled sessions with foresters and fish and wildlife experts in order to examine different areas of habitat and learn about the sustainable forestry efforts at the Grant.
On Sunday, the Grant played host to a series of lectures celebrating the past, present and future of the Grant. History Professor Emeritus Jere R. Daniell '55, unveiled a book he co-authored with Jack Noon '68 titled "Dartmouth's Second College Grant, a History." New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Commissioner Thomas Burack '82 and Dartmouth Outing Club President Phillip Bracikowski '08 also gave lectures.
The New Hampshire state legislature created the nearly 27,000-acre grant on June 18, 1807. This act responded to the College's request for further support after the sale of the First College Grant lands in Clarksville provided insufficient funds for its development. Though the College was unable to sell the Second College Grant land profitably, it began to earn a small profit through timber production.
The College's sustainable logging operation currently allows the cutting of approximately four percent of the spruce, red maple, fir and yellow birch trees in the Grant each year. A significant portion of this timber is used in the construction of campus furniture such as residential hall beds.
The Grant also serves the College on a recreational basis. Students use the Grant during Dartmouth Outing Club freshman trips, but it can also be enjoyed on an individual basis by all Dartmouth students, alumni,and faculty for canoeing, hunting, fishing, mountain biking, hiking and bird watching. In the winter, students can take part in cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. Cabin and Trail, a club within the Dartmouth Outing Club, runs trips to the Grant every term.
The Grant has even inspired its own folklore; during DOC trips, freshmen are often told stories by "Grant Crew" of the demise of the First College Grant. In one story, the Canadian government stole the First College Grant lands while the College's attention was diverted by the events of the Civil War. Another story emerged to explain the presence of a landing strip in the Grant. According to legend, the College created the strip during World War II in order to drop supplies to a hidden bunker in which Dartmouth physics professors worked on the Manhattan Project in secret. Though these stories are fabricated, they continue to be passed from class to class on freshmen trips.
"I have actually met sophomores who still believe those stories because they heard them on their freshman trip and no one has disabused them of the notion," Cabin & Trail Chair Phil Wagner '09 said.
Celebrations marking the Grant's anniversary will continue throughout the year, with an October weekend dedicated to fall events such as bird migrations and the hunting season.
