Thursday, November 7, 2013

[Updated] Tompkins Square Park loses its great gnarly squirrel tree, here before the Civil War


[Photo via @NCintheNYC]

On Oct. 12, the great old gnarled Black Locust on the East Seventh Street side of Tompkins Square Park caught fire (rather suspiciously, too) ...

There was hope that the remaining part of the tree could stick, so to speak, around.

GammaBlog points out that this was one of the few trees left in the Park that pre-dates the Civil War:

I knew it would at least have to be trimmed to avoid branches falling on people, but hoped they would leave the main body of the tree as a habitat for the squirrels and as a historical relic.

Nope.

This morning, crews arrived, as GammaBlog reports.



All that's left is a fucking stump.


[Bobby Williams]

For further reading:
RIP Gnarly Squirrel Tree (GammaBlog)
at

10 comments:

  1. nygrumpNovember 7, 2013 at 1:40 PM

    I missed that one, and aren't there cameras throughout the park recording and tracking us? So the City should know exactly who did this? Never woulda thunk that hulk was 150 years old...

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  2. AnonymousNovember 7, 2013 at 2:22 PM

    Who burned it down?

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  3. AnonymousNovember 7, 2013 at 3:00 PM

    It looked old and haunted like something out of Irving Washington's Headless Horseman..a lose no doubt

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  4. AnonymousNovember 7, 2013 at 4:30 PM

    A couple more hurricanes and we might as well stop calling it a park. It's shocking how decimated it got in the last few years.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 7, 2013 at 9:25 PM

    That tree was a goner so it's good it was removed before it tipped over and hurt someone.

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  6. AnonymousNovember 8, 2013 at 12:50 AM

    This park could be a true gem if it was kept in good shape. I don't understand how it could be fully staffed and so poorly maintained.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alan W. MooreNovember 8, 2013 at 7:55 AM

    In many civilized countries, where maintenance of public gardens is regarded as an art, a stump of this antiquity would be carved by a local artist. It's a testament to the basic barbarity of NYC service workers and their supervisors that this was not even considered.

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  8. Laura Goggin PhotographyNovember 8, 2013 at 1:47 PM

    Ugh, this was a great bird perch. I photographed my first wren who was pecking around this tree.

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  9. AnonymousNovember 9, 2013 at 2:52 PM

    Did anyone ever figure out how the tree caught fire? It really is STRANGE... (!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousNovember 10, 2013 at 2:15 AM

    SO Where is the park security video footage? Is there a camera that covers that area? Who is in charge of the parks cameras?

    ReplyDelete

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