THE HISTORIC TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS 



honors may perhaps justly be divided be- 

 tween the buttonwood in front of the 

 academy, and the elm on Albany road. 



The buttonwood is now eighteen feet in 

 circumference, and one hundred feet in height 

 and spread. It stands within the bounds 

 of what was once the enclosure of the fort 

 which was built in 1689, and which remained 

 until 1758. If size is any test of a tree's 

 age this buttonwood was standing at the 

 time of the Indian wars, for its circum- 

 ference is larger than that of the Charlemont 

 buttonwood (under which the pioneers slept 

 in 1741) by about two feet. 



Many thrilling events took place within 

 a radius of fifty yards from the spot occupied 

 by the tree. Almost within reach of its 

 shadow stood the "Old Indian House," built 

 by Ensign John Sheldon in 1698, and the 

 Stebbins house, where, on the 29th of Febru- 

 ary, 1703-4, "seven men, besides women and 

 children, held two hundred soldiers and one 

 hundred and forty Indians at bay (under 

 a French officer of the line) for three hours." 1 



1 From inscription on monument. 

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