(Erees of Stalling, iflass. No. 3. 
THE DAVID EMERSON OAK. 
White Oak. Quercus alba % L. 
Few trees are so effective as the David Emerson Oak, situated in the dooryard of the 
Emerson place, on the northerly part of Pearl street, near Main street. It makes 
a remarkably attractive place out of what otherwise might pass as ordinary. One 
cannot become familiar with the location without forever afterwards feeling an 
attachment for the old tree, which, standing between the house and the barn, stretches its 
long, protecting branches from roof to roof, and forms a beautiful canopy of limbs and 
foliage, covering the entire dooryard. What a place for weary man to rest on the grassy 
slope, while through the occasional apertures overhead the sun’s rays stream, making 
bright, irregular patches of light, with ever varying outline, as the leaves move lightly 
in the summer breezes! What a pleasure mere existence is ’mid such quiet, peaceful 
surroundings! Would that the tired, worn-out toilers in the cities might have places 
like this, in which to forget their cares and burdens, and give themselves up to the quiet 
restfulness that comes to one whose body and intellect are, even for a brief time, in 
harmony with nature and nature’s laws—in harmony with God. 
The Emersons were the first to make a home on this spot. The old house was 
located close beside the road, and here David Emerson was born in ijhz. I he 
present dooryard was then a part ot the pasture, in which the oak chanced to sprout 
from seed. It is said that David, when a bov, ran and jumped over the then diminutive 
specimen. This must have been about the year of the Declaration of Independence. 
About 1830, a new house was built, and was located further back, so that the tree 
was included in the dooryard, —a most happy selection for a building site. 
The place has never been sold since it was first settled, but has always remained in 
the hands of the original family, the present owner being Arthur G. Emerson 
(b. 1855), grandson of David Emerson. 
The old oak measured in August, 1887, as follows: — 
Circumference. Height. Spread. 
1 ft. from ground, io ft. 7 in. 46 ft. $7 It. 
5 ft. from ground, 9 ft. 5 in. 
The white oak trunk is generally much enlarged near the ground by the spreading 
roots. The almost entire absence of this in this tree, would lead one to think the grade 
of the yard has been raised so as to cover the lower part of the trunk. 
Our photograph shows its appearance one September morning in 1S87. Unfortu¬ 
nately, there is no position from which an entire and unobstructed view can be obtained. 
The branches, which extend beyond the limit of our view, are partially hidden on the 
left by the limbs of an elm tree, and on the right by a maple. 
The white oak is found from Maine to Florida, and west to Arkansas, reaching its 
greatest development on the western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, and ... the 
Ohio River valley. It is one of the most valuable of timber trees, and furnishes material 
for ship-building, carriages, agricultural implements, cooperage, baskets, railway ties, 
and various other articles. The large roots are used for making knees for sh.p-build.ng, 
the bark is very valuable for tanning; while the acorns are greedily deyourec 
animals, and are sometimes quite pleasant to the taste, especially when roaster. 
