When you preserve/save, or try to preserve/save giant heritage trees, in a sense you are preserving a little bit of history.
The big beech that smashed a large part of itself into our home and deck has been topped and now we cross our fingers and hope it lives.
My arborist showed me more carving dates in the trunk I hadn’t noticed. The oldest date is 1871. The initials that correspond with it are somewhat obliterated, but the date is clear. There is also at the very bottom someone carving in it from 1935, and other dates from almost every decade of the 20th century and initials and hearts and things all around it.
When you look at this, you can’t help but wonder who all these people were that sat under the giant arms of this beech tree. I don’t know about you, but I think that is pretty cool to even contemplate.
That’s what makes me sad about all these housing developments in addition to the fact that they’re just crowding the landscape with their plastic glory, trees like this fall every day. Developers just tell townships they will plant new trees. You can’t replicate this.
Cool stuff on your tree. I remember carving my initials in a tree on at my parents and I was sad when it had to come down. Your story made me smile thinking of those who carved in your tree. I hope it lives
Hi
Just checking in. Great pics. That arborist is amazing, but so sad to see that enormous tree reduced to a tall stump, speaking as one who played under it and stared up at it for almost 50 years. I suppose it deserves some of my tears for all that. Hope it lives, too.
Jean
What you can’t see because I haven’t taken those photos off my camera are the leader branches off to the side of the beech. I wish we had had a choice other than topping it, but the break was too big where it happened. The woods are definitely thinned out after this storm which makes me sad . But some of the saplings in the woods survived so the woods will grow again
New beginnings inside and out – not a bad thing, but it’s good to mourn a bit as well. My father used to talk about how the beech trees marked the end of a given forest, because they grow a canopy that kills the light for the new tree starts below, so it must be time for the ‘forest’ to begin anew.
I think I would’ve really enjoyed your parents. That is the kind of thing my father would’ve said 🙂
I feel compelled to share this as well – the night before last I had a disturbing dream in which I was connected to someone by literal ropes and a 2×4 of sorts was in the mix as well for some reason. I wasn’t careful in my movements and the 2×4 somehow chopped off the other person’s arm from just below the elbow. I was totally horrified. I couldn’t face the person, though I knew I had to, although I didn’t understand any of it really beyond the emotions involved and now this perhaps makes some sense of that dream. Strange, huh? I really was disturbed by the loss of limb – that’s really what the dream was about along with connectivity of an inexplicable nature.
Dreams can be spooky like that, I don’t think it is strange at all.