New Building for Cornell Plantations

The Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center

I had the honor of being among the first to see the new building at Cornell Plantations the other day, and...wow. It's gorgeous. It's very open and airy, but anchored with beautiful stone walls that continue from the outside in, so that when you enter the building, you feel like you're still outside. (Not the most eloquent of sentences, but there you are,) There are louvers to keep sun out in summer and in in winter, a green roof, and get this: real, flushing toilets. I'm not even kidding. Though I am going to miss the super-deluxe high-class porta-potties of yore. Cornell has applied for LEED certification and from what I overheard, will likely get at least silver and is hoping for gold.

Plantations staff hopes to have the building open to the public in January, and there will be a grand opening event May 22 (to coincide with the rhododendron collection's peak bloom time). In June we'll be bringing our usual two busloads down for a special tour. We have groups leaving from Rochester (via the RCGC) and from Buffalo/Batavia.

I'm sure I've mentioned this in the past, but I'll say it again. The garden at Plantations HQ is my all-time favorite garden, ever. Ever. So I can't help but include some gratuitous garden shots.

Fell in love with this Mexican bush sage

Gorgeous

The old building

The old building will continue to house Plantations staff. The new building has no offices, but it has a gorgeous conference room, a larger room for presentations, and a (thank God—this isn't Disney!) small gift shop downstairs. The facility and/or its parts will be available for rent for company retreats, weddings (I assume), etc.

For more images, click here.