THE HISTORIC TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS 



219 



f\N the bank of the Concord River, just beyond the Monument Street 

 bridge, and not far from the famous "monument of the minute-man," 

 ihere is a very old willow tree. Its girth is greater than that of any 

 tree in Concord, and it is known to have been a sizeable specimen even 

 in Revolutionary times. The circumference at breast height, measured 

 from the upper side, is twenty-two feet; from the lower side, it is 

 eighteen feet and eight inches ; the height is forty-three feet and the 



spread sixty- 

 three feet. At 

 the point where 

 the b r a n c hcs 

 emerge from 

 the trunk the 

 circumference is 

 nearly thirty 

 feet. 



THE MARLBORO ELM 



'PHE road over which Washing- 

 ton passed on his way to Cam- 

 bridge is still in the favorite high- 

 way between Springfield and 

 Worcester. It has now become the 

 popular automobile route between 

 those cities, and many a beautiful 

 tree greets the traveler with its 

 grateful shade. After passing the 

 old oaks at Wayside Inn, going to- 

 ward the west, you enter the town 

 of Marlboro. Near the end of 

 West Main Street, on the lawn of 

 the Stevens place, stands an old 

 elm tree, the dimensions of which 

 are quite extraordinary: circumfer- 

 ence at breast height, 175^ feet ; 

 height 74'/ 2 feet, spread of branches, 

 100 feet. The roots on the souther- 

 ly side rise from the ground like an 

 abutment, increasing the circum- 

 ference at one foot from the 

 ground to 29V2 feet. 



AMONG the 

 trees in his- 

 toric Concord, 



belonging to a 



later time and 



associated with 



the years of 



peace and ac- 

 complish m e n t 



rather than with 



those of war, 



are the two old 



^lms in front of 



the Louisa May 



Alcott house. 



and the little 



grove of pines 



md spruces just 



beyond it. Un- 

 der the shade of 



the elms once 



lived the author 



of "Little Women" and among the whispering pines Hawthorne walked, 

 thought and wrote, or coversed with his friend, Thoreau. The elm at 

 the left of the door as the visitor approaches the old house is thirteen 

 feet in circumference, and the one at the right is fifteen feet. Their 

 height is about sixty-five feet. The spread of the branches is not imposing, 

 as one of the trees has lost nearly half of its limbs. 



THE OLD WILLOW AT CONCORD 



THE LOUISA MAY ALCOTT ELMS AND HAWTHORNE'S GROVE 



