Squeezed on all sides by the core of Burlington’s post-World War II suburban neighborhoods, this is perhaps the last place one expects to find one of Vermont’s most bizarre landscapes. Visitors to the 12-acre Mount Calvary Red Maple Wetland (MCRMW) discover a landscape defying our expectations of what a forest—and a park—can be. That this open space exists at all is a tantalizing artifact of its odd natural history, fused with centuries of city planning evolution. An unusual geology enables dense flora more reminiscent of a jungle than a Burlington woodlot. Old boundary markers crisscrossing the parcel trace centuries of land use and development philosophies. And a surreptitious entrance though a break in an overgrown chain-link fence reveals the evolution of Burlington’s ethnic landscape.
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