A new community forest in Germantown, in Columbia County, NY, has been named in honor of Theodore Robinson, a local Civil War veteran who was the only Black American from Germantown to serve in the United States Army during the war.
Bard College, which had received the 23-acre forest through a donation, worked with local town officials to secure state grant funding and conservation easements to fund both a discounted land sale to the town and development needs to connect the land to the broader park network in Germantown.
The Town of Germantown was awarded $300,000 from Round 2 of DEC’s Community Forest Conservation Grant Program, which was available to municipalities to establish community forests.
The addition of this new municipal forest completes a very unique series of interconnected parks for the town, spanning a range of recreation, historical sites, and natural habitat character.
The forest is named Theodore Robinson, a sergeant during the Civil War, fought in major battles including Fort Fisher, Petersburg, and the Battle of the Crater in 1864–1865. He lived on what is now Maple Avenue Extension with his wife, Mary Stackhouse Robinson, working as a farmer and ice cutter.
In his later years he was a prominent local figure known for leading Memorial Day parades.
The Theodore Robinson Community Forest contains successional woodlands and wetland areas, providing habitat for native plants and animals and will provide trails for hiking, bird watching, and more.
You can learn more about Theodore Robinson from this Germantown Library YouTube video.
Read more about New York’s Community Forests.
Photo: Theodore Robinson Community Forest signage, 2026 (photo by Germantown History Department).
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