The Oliver Wolcott Library Plans a Farewell to its Majestic Friend

LITCHFIELD, Conn. - May 20, 2014 - PRLog -- “Our beautiful copper beech tree has been a symbol of the library for decades. We are sad to see it go” said Library Director Ann Marie White. The Beech Tree is slated to be removed in late May or early June.

Since the Oliver Wolcott Library moved to its current location in July of 1967, the beautiful Copper Beech Tree by the main entrance has welcomed visitors. With its wide branches, stunning copper leaves, and enormous trunk, it has delighted and enchanted library patrons for decades. Because of its probable age, the tree has likely been witness to many of Litchfield’s important historical moments. The Library will be holding a contest for children to guess the age of the tree, so for this story, we don’t want to reveal the possible age. What we do know is that it is very old and very large.

“Dead trees have many uses and can be stunning in their own right. However, being a public building with about 250 visitors a day, we cannot accept the threat that a dead tree could pose to our patrons. As a result, after much careful deliberation and thought, the Library’s Beech Tree Committee concluded that the tree should be removed” said White.

The tree had been declining for more than ten years. The Library did everything it could to keep it strong including using a skilled arborist to assist with best practice for the care and nurturing of big trees. But, ultimately, like all things in life, the tree finally reached the end of its life. “Once it really started to go, it went quickly” observed Library Board President John Boyd.  By the summer of 2013, the tree did not have one leaf and was proclaimed totally dead.

The Library formed a Beech Tree Committee appointed by the Board President. “I wanted to make the committee inclusive so that we had a number of voices as well as expertise. We know how much the tree means to us and to the whole community. ” said Boyd.

The Committee includes local artisan and owner of Northwest Corner Woodworks John LaGattuta; Litchfield Garden Club past President and Litchfield Land Trust board member Drew Harlow; Litchfield Garden Club member Jane Hinkel; Litchfield Garden Club member Marla Patterson; Vice President of Chapman Lumber and library trustee Stuart Chapman; Founder of Zero Odor and library trustee Jim Huffstetler; White Memorial trustee and library trustee Susan Spencer; and Library Director Ann Marie White.

After careful review and deliberation, the Committee decided that they would work with three local artisans who will craft specially-made items from the beech tree that the library can own and proudly display as a way to honor and memorialize the tree. Local artisans Richard Heys and John LaGattuta plan to craft a bowl or other small treasure, and local miller John Nash of Hartland is planning to craft a table. This is all dependent on the tree being sound upon removal and after about a year or so of the wood curing.

Additional plans include saving a couple of slabs of the tree, if sound, to use as an educational tool that will highlight significant historical events matched to the tree rings of that same year.

The Library has also scheduled a children’s event presented by Jeff Greenwood of White Memorial where he will teach the children attending about trees with a special emphasis on the beech tree. This event is scheduled for Friday, May 16 from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM at the Oliver Wolcott Library for children in Kindergarten through sixth grade. The event will also include a scavenger hunt and leaf rubbing.

Also planned is a contest to guess the age of the tree. Children from ages four to sixteen are encouraged to participate. A prize of a book about trees will be awarded to the child in each age group that come the closest without going over.

The Committee also plans to replant. “We want to see the renewal of life and we plan on planting another tree near where our magnificent beech tree stood” said White. The Committee is still reviewing options and ideas for what type of tree but intends to make it a native one.  Planting of the new tree is set for either the fall of 2014 or spring of 2015, depending on the tree selected and availability.

As Henry David Thoreau remarked, “I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech tree, or yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines”. While the Oliver Wolcott Library is saddened to see its friend, the magnificent Copper Beech go, we look forward to memorializing it with local artisans, using the opportunity to educate young on how to know trees, and planting a new tree that will encourage people to come to the library to welcome the new tree.