On Tuesday morning I visited the oldest broadleaf tree in North America--a beautiful, gnarly, deeply furrowed black gum that is more than 700 years old and lives in a swamp in New Hampshire with some of its kin.
My friend Dave and I wandered around the base of the tree, measured its girth, and looked up into its canopy, in awe of its lifespan. A few years back, a state botanist cored the tree to measure its age by counting tree rings, placing its birth around the year 1300. I draw hope and inspiration knowing that such trees can survive the constant onslaught of human's imprint on the land, if we let some places be.
The black gums grow on hummocks at the edge of a swamp. Several other nearby black gums are equally impressive. One huge black gum was home to a porcupine, which occupied a hole in a large burl midway up the tree trunk.
My friend Dave and I wandered around the base of the tree, measured its girth, and looked up into its canopy, in awe of its lifespan. A few years back, a state botanist cored the tree to measure its age by counting tree rings, placing its birth around the year 1300. I draw hope and inspiration knowing that such trees can survive the constant onslaught of human's imprint on the land, if we let some places be.The black gums grow on hummocks at the edge of a swamp. Several other nearby black gums are equally impressive. One huge black gum was home to a porcupine, which occupied a hole in a large burl midway up the tree trunk.
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