| Legacy Trees |
| Location: Behind Bromfield
Hall [Not yet installed] |
| The two trees planted here in the
lawn of the Bromfield Library are tied closely to American
history. They were given to the campus by the local chapter of
the Daughters of the American Revolution to honor famous Americans. The tree on your right is Fraxinus americana, White Ash. It was grown from a seed taken from the Harriet Beecher Stowe White Ash in Cincinnati, Ohio. Harriet Beecher Stowe was an anti-slavery activist and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly (1852). The book's forceful indictment of slavery was credited with increasing the anti-slavery sentiment prior to the Civil War. Harriet moved to the Gilbert Avenue home in 1830 to live with her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher. White Ash has pinnately (like a feather) compound leaves. It is a very important lumber species supplying wood for construction and for baseball bats and tool handles. The tree on your left is Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Tree or Yellow Poplar. It was grown from a seed produced by a tree planted in 1785 by the President of the United States, George Washington. His plantation home, Mt. Vernon, is on the shores of the Potomac River in Virginia. Washington was an avid tree planter and experimented with planting a wide variety of trees to improve their quality. Tulip Trees bear large yellow flowers in Spring and have simple leaves with tips which appear to have been cut off. The trees have tall, straight trunks which have been used for barn beams in this area of Ohio. Both of these trees were grown by American Forests, an organization dedicated to preserving our environment and teaching people about our national heritage. -- David Kramer
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