Last week, the newly refurbished Emerson Playground in Upper Falls was rededicated. The mayor, city and state officials, and neighbors were all there but the best part was that all the young kids from the Countryside Aftercare program were there. When they cut the ribbon the screaming kids poured into the field and swarmed over the new playground equipment. In the middle of all the kids was Jesse Crandall.
Jesse’s been running the Upper Falls after school program for many years and he’s a big part of the community. If you see him in the afternoon, waiting on the corner for the bus to arrive from Countryside, you’ll likely see middle school kids and high school kids (his graduates) stopping by to say hello. The kids love Jesse, the parents love Jesse and the neighborhood loves Jesse. One of things that I particularly love about him is that he’s always dreaming up new imaginative ideas for the kids.
So at the playground re-dedication, Jesse was talking about a massive tree that had recently been cut down at the end of nearby Thurston Rd. He said that the stump is so huge that it has to be 100’s of years old. He was saying that he would love to find a way to tap into the tree’s history for the kids. What he had in mind was to do the research to date how old the tree was, then sand it down, and add labels for historic events – “man landed on the moon” at this ring, etc.
One of the people that was there that day was Carol Stapleton. Carol works for the city’s Parks And Recreation Dept and has always been a great Upper Falls booster. She heard about Jesse’s idea, loved it, and ran with it. She contacted Mark Welch who is the city’s Tree Warden (aka Director of Urban Forestry). He loved the idea and thought it was a great way to get kids interested in the trees all round them. Between Carol and Mark they checked out the stump and confirmed that it is a city tree and then got back in touch with Jesse about the project.
So now they all have a plan. Come spring time, Jesse and the kids, with some technical assistance from the city are going to turn an old ugly stump into a neighborhood educational attraction. How cool is that?
Very cool indeed!
I knew when it comes to tree info we can count on Julia Malakie. Julia says it was a 52 inch Red Oak. Here’s her photo from right before it was cut down.
A quick internet search indicates that a 52 inch Red Oak is roughly 200 years old so they’ll be able to add lots of interesting historic events to it.
Well, not right before, if it was cut recently. Photo is from last year.
And Mark is Marc 🙂
This is a really neat idea. I look forward to seeing rings on a polished stump. It can be very hard to count rings with saw marks blurring things up. Jerry, will you be able to figure out what was on this land 200 or whatever years ago? I wonder if the tree was planted on purpose, or was a ‘volunteer’ tree (since it’s a native species) that survived road-building and sidewalk building.
Thurston Rd shows up on the 1874 map but not on the 1848 one. Circuit Rd is on neither. So it looks like this tree pre-dates all of the city roads in that neck of Upper Falls.
It looks like by 1874 it was a fairly small parcel belonging to someone named “JM Sherman”. Small enough parcel that it was probably just a house lot. I’ve no idea of what was there 75 years earlier. The maps from those times just look like that was out in the sticks then with no houses anywhere near by.
Jerry. Great post on Jesse Crandall and her educational proposal for a fallen tree. It’s just too bad we had to lose a 200 year old tree to make this all possible.
Just as promised, Marc Welch and Jesse Crandall got together yesterday and started putting together plans for the Upper Falls History Stump. Marc, Jesse and the kids are all champing at the bit to get started.
The City’s going to take care of re-cutting the stump with one clean cut. Probably a wise plan. Much as I’m sure some 8 year old boys at the CCC aftercare program would love to get their hands on a giant chainsaw, I guess it’s best to leave it to the professionals. Sorry kids 😉
Jerry, Julia et al,
Any thougts on just how this stump might be preserved for a few years ?
I might suggest that after chainsawing, and grinding it down progressively with coarser to finer sandpaper on a good orbital sander, a least 10 coats of a good tung oil marine varnish ( recommend a product called Epifanes which has a high level of UV protectant ), sanding lightly with a 320 paper between coats. If its cut reasonably level to start with, you will get a good flow of finish ( self leveling ), and a mirror like final product.
Once you gett a few coats down you will have a smooth surface to add graphic material of some sort, sealing it well with final coats. Long term preservation will require an annual sanding and another coat of varnish. It works beautifully as a yacht finish and is especially popular on boats in the tropics.
Second thought,… If cut level it will allow water to stand on the surface which would compromise the finish long term.
One would otherwise protect it with some kind of little rooflet, or cut it not level ( sloped ) to kepp water running off.
Obviously varnish will run off easily as well, and consequently lighter ( multiple ) coatings will have to be applied to get a smooth run free surface.
Third thought ,.. Put the kids to work running the orbital sanders. Adults can change the paper.
Thanks for the tips blueprintbill.
Yes, they’re planning to cut the surface on a slope to have the water run off.