Situated against
the backdrop of the Ohio River, Aston Oaks today enjoys the rare combination
of natural beauty and history. In 1855, John Aston Warder decided to
give up his medical practice to devote all his time to his main interest,
horticulture. Dr. Warder had previously served as president of the Cincinnati
Society of Natural History and was active in the Cincinnati Horticultural
and Astronomical Societies. He purchased more than 300 acres near North
Bend, Ohio, from President William Henry Harrison's widow and moved
from his Clifton residence into a frame house on his property overlooking
the river. Soon work began on his permanent home, "Aston",
built in the style of an English manor house. One acre of the front
lawn was laid out as a formal rose garden, while iris bordered the driveway.
Beyond stretched fruit orchards and plantings of ornamental trees and
shrubs of which Warder made a systematic study during the following
years. Essentially this farm was the first agricultural experimental
station in the United States, though it was never actually called that.
Despite the
duties of caring for a family of seven children, Dr. Warder still found
time and energy for much more. During the Civil War he was a Brigade
Surgeon of the First Brigade of the Ohio Militia, and afterwards served
on the boards of the Wine Grower's Association and Ohio Agricultural
Board. Yet throughout his life Dr. Warder's labors in forestry were
paramount. In 1873 he was appointed United States Commissioner to the
Vienna World's Exposition, during which time he had the opportunity
to visit and consult with European foresters. The experience convinced
him that national legislation would be necessary in the United States
for the forestry movement to make headway. As he wrote his official
report in which he listed European forestry schools and associations
of "forest managers", he noted that there was not a single
organization concerned with forest conservation in the United States.
So Dr. Warder's participation in the Vienna Exposition speeded the founding
of the American Forestry Association in September 1875. In it's 75th
anniversary issue, the American Forestry Association's magazine, American
Forests, stated: "The vigor and zeal with which the American Forestry
Association launched its 'forestry and timber culture' crusade was due
in large part to the leadership of John Aston Warder... whose fame as
horticulturalist, forester, author, and physician had fanned out to
distant areas of the nation."
Today, Warder's
legacy lives on in the land that is Aston Oaks. His handsome "Aston"
residence still stands on its hill overlooking the river, and is on
the National Register of Historic Places. No longer are there any remnants
of his fruit orchards, but how pleased John Warder would be that near
his home stands the largest Buckeye tree in Ohio, and a towering oak
that his beloved American Forestry Association has designated as the
largest English Oak in the United States.
