Free with admission.
Visitors are invited to tour the Platinum Level LEED® Certified Horticulture Center and the recently renovated, 250-year-old Springfield Mills during Morris Arboretum’s Open House at Bloomfield Farm. Guides will be on hand to explain the green features of the Horticulture Center and detail the restoration at Springfield Mills. Guests may also take part in “Touch a Truck,” Arboretum equipment that will be on display, such as a backhoe and tractors, for an up close experience.
In 2011, Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania was awarded the highest rating of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its Horticulture Center at Bloomfield Farm, across the street from the Arboretum’s public garden. LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.
The mechanical overhaul of Springfield Mills has taken several years. But with generous individual gifts and dedicated volunteers, the one-ton millstone is grinding grain again – the first time since World War II. Future work will restore the grain elevators with long term goals listed as the refurbishment of water power to the mill and the growth of the site as an educational resource.
