A sugar maple tree that has watched over a New Hampshire home for more than 200 years and was one of the largest of its kind in the US has been cut down because of safety concerns.
As a small crowd looked on, arborist Micum Davis on Monday started trimming the crown of the tree in Kensington, with the goal of taking it apart by the end of the day.
Given the tree had a crown stretching 30m across, a diameter of more than 2m and stands 30m tall, the job required a crane to haul away branches as Davis cut them off with a chainsaw.
Photo: AP
A wood chipper howled in the background.
The tree had won plenty of accolades over the years. It had been recognized by the New Hampshire Big Tree Program and appeared in the National Register of Champion Trees. It was considered the second largest sugar maple after one in Virginia, said Rose Tileson, the manager of American Forests’ National Champion Trees program.
Janet Buxton, whose family has owned property where the tree stands since 1954, proudly showed off a certificate she received touting its size.
“It’s been the guardian of us. I don’t know what to say. We grew up with it. It’s been special to the whole family,” Buxton said, sitting at her kitchen table. “We’re all sad to see it go, but we have thoroughly enjoyed it for the 67 years we have been here.”
Davis said that the tree was at least 240 years old and is one of two on the property planted at the same time. They are known as wedding trees because they were planted on each side of the home’s doorway, a sign that it might have been a gift to newlyweds. The other maple remains.
The maple cut down had survived plenty of storms over the years and provided a place for birds, including an eastern whip-poor-will, whose calls could be heard many nights, and a family of owls that made a home in the trunk.
Squirrels used the tree to get into the family’s attic, Buxton said.
However, a bout of storms with strong winds proved too much. Cracks formed in the trunk and it became clear that the tree had become a safety hazard, with the potential for branches to fall onto the house. There was also widespread rot in the tree.
“She’s just at the end of her life,” Buxton said. “She is finally being euthanized. It’s unsafe, and it’s not fair to her to let her stand out there and not be as beautiful as she always has been.”
“I’m sad to see her go,” she added. “It’s very emotional.”
The tree had long been the talk of those who track the largest in the state. Among them is Kevin Martin, who has in the past run the state’s Big Tree Program and now oversees the county program that is home to the maple.
Martin had the chance to size the maple a few years back and said that it “was impressive.”
“It’s disappointing, especially when it’s national champion, but we do lose them fairly frequently if they are too close to a home,” Martin said. “Even in the woods, they are dying and blowing over. We have been losing quite a few lately.”
He said that perhaps a lot of the trees were grown at the same time and they are now dying off together. Another big sugar maple dating back to the Revolutionary War was cut down in Vermont in 2019.
As branches were hauled off and the sounds of a chainsaw filled the air, onlookers were transfixed.
Among them was a mother with her two boys and a couple from Manchester, who wanted to see what all the hype was about.
“I said, a 250-year-old tree is coming down, let’s go take a look at it,” Diane Pease said. “It’s amazing to watch, the skill it takes this guy to do that. I’m waiting for that big limb to come down.”
Russ Pease said that he was thinking of the tree being planted as a sapling all those years ago.
“We are assuming when the house was built in 1780 that these were just baby trees,” he said. “To watch it grow for this many years, it’s amazing that it’s still alive. It’s too bad we have to take trees like this down, but it gets to the point of a safety issue.”
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