Jackson's Garden is the oldest cultivated garden on an American college campus.
It is named for Isaac Wilbur Jackson (1804-77), Class of 1826, an 1824 graduate of The Albany Academy who entered Union as a junior and graduated in two years with first honors in mathematics and chemistry.
A professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy from 1831 until his death, "Captain Jack" also taught optics, mechanics, electricity and magnetism, acoustics and astronomy.
Students spoke of him as "most beloved," "too kindly" and possessing "the vigor of mind and cleanness of expression that had made him a splendid teacher."
Jackson took up gardening after President Eliphalet Nott suggested it as therapy for his anxiety and depression.
Jackson's customary gardener's outfit was a swallow-tailed blue coat and white trousers.
Early visitors to Jackson's Garden included famed naturalist and painter John James Audubon, who described it as "superb" in 1844.
After Jackson died, his daughter, Julia Benedict, maintained the garden for 48 years. During two of those years, 1879 and 1890, she owned a peacock that purportedly disturbed students by screaming all night.
Jackson's Garden is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a young woman who was murdered by a mob in 1672 after her father killed her suitor.
Peacocks and ghosts notwithstanding, today the garden is Union's top guest attraction.
Source: Encyclopedia of Union College, compiled and edited by Wayne Somers