Day 2, Chattanooga To Oregon Road Trip: It's Arbor Day Every Day In Nebraska City

  • Friday, August 1, 2025
Morton Mansion at Arbor Farm in Nebraska City, Neb.
Morton Mansion at Arbor Farm in Nebraska City, Neb.

It's always Arbor Day in the little town of Nebraska City, Nebraska, where trees reign supreme.

On our ambitious cross country road trip, we reached an inauspicious section of Nebraska just above the Kansas line.

Suddenly we had arrived at the home of all things Arbor Day in an unlikely setting.

And it's all tied in with the Morton Salt fortune.

Our second stay was at the wonderful Lied Lodge that is the chief staying place for environmental groups from around the country and globe for conclaves dealing with taking care of the Earth.

It turns out that a man by the name of J. Sterling Morton in 1872 asked the Nebraska Board of Agriculture to declare a special day devoted to planting trees. The first Arbor Day involved the astounding goal of planting of more than one million trees in Nebraska.

Arbor Day is now observed throughout the world.

Morton had a son named Joy (yes Joy), who did the family proud. He got into the salt business, and the family's four-room home on a perch in Nebraska City eventually became 52 rooms.

That home was first on a bare hill, but the Mortons took care of that, planting a host of trees around it. One that is marked today was planted by the family in 1868. A black walnut still stands that Joy hand planted in 1871.

There's the remnant of an ancient chestnut that has been placed on display in the grand lobby of the Lied Lodge. Nearby are several tables crafted from thin rings from the huge tree.

The Morton mansion still stands, along with the family barns, as a part of the Arbor Farm. There's also a kid's tree house that goes way up and many greenhouses where new trees are sprouted.

Trees of multiple kinds are labeled along walking trails.

In going from the Benton Park Inn in St. Louis we went from a neighborhood almost exclusively brick to a lodge made of beautiful wood specimens, including wide beams and lacqured planks. Not a brick in sight here.

St. Louis turned to brick because of an 1849 fire that burned many wooden houses - and because of a big supply of clay between the nearby Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

Nebraska City, though with its rolling plains setting, has made the most of all the benefits that trees can provide - at least at Arbor Farm.

In the evening, Zef and Min won again - this time at Tens.

In the morning, we were just ahead of 150 reservations for two wedding parties in the spacious third floor restaurant (one of two dineries at Lied Lodge). Excellent scrambled eggs, ham steak, roasted new potatoes and biscuits.

Tomorrow: The Plains Hotel, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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