Article from Newsletter “News from Wake Robin” dated Fall, 1997.

What’s in a name?

by Cathy Y.

Naturalist and Wake Robin Founder

How did the name of Wake Robin–and the names of the many buildings in our community come to be? When the Founding Committee arrived at the decision that, indeed, there was to be a Life Care Community, they gave the naming responsibility to an ad hoc committee. Doro S., Fran A., Mary G., and I (all nature lovers) met, selected and finally proposed Wake Robin for its overall name, with the buildings to be named for a long list of our native trees. Linden, an important honey-producer (and another name for Basswood) was the last building to be named. For the cottages and apartments, we chose names of trees or bushes which grow on Wake Robin’s hillside or nearby.

Red Trillium and Wake Robin are identified now as one plant, but in the early days, settlers in Appalachia called all its family Wake Robins; there was the Large White, Dwarf White, the lovely Painted (at higher elevations) and the shy Nodding and small Toad Trilliums (The Latin word triplum or triple, is the base for Trillium with its three leaves, three petals, and three stamens). All varieties are found in Vermont, but at different elevations and in different habitats with the common Red and White (also named the Snow Trillium) the earliest to bloom.

The Red Trillium is synonymous now in my wildflower references to Wake Robin and it carries unfortunate nicknames–Birthroot, and Indian Balm (it was once used to stop bleeding externally and on snakebites) and also Wet Dog Flower and Stinking Benjamin referring to its odor. But because it and its lovely white relative are our most visible tenacious (their rhyzomes spread through rock walls and over forest floors) and beautiful reminders that spring has come again, the new beginnings and successful lives of the residents moving to this new facility seemed appropriated to correspond. Our nature-oriented committee felt that the bond between people and plants was indeed a strong one — with the carpets of Trillium, white and red, the name Wake Robin, could carry the message of spring throughout the year.