Strange Old Trees in Boston and Beyond

If you're ever near Boston Common or at the Massachusetts Statehouse you might notice these two unusual looking trees. They're heavily pruned and flank the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment.

I once thought these trees were planted as part of the memorial, which was completed in 1897. I was wrong. They actually were planted by John Hancock, probably in 1772, which makes them around 248 years old. These trees are OLD, and are definitely the oldest ones on Boston Common.

John Hancock (he of the famous signature) once lived in a mansion that stood where the Statehouse is now. Apparently he wanted to improve his view, so he planted two English elms across from his home. The trees did well, and when the Shaw Memorial was erected a century later the builders made sure not to damage them. The memorial actually sits on top of a large stone vault which was built to house the roots of the trees.

There are very few English elm trees left in North America, and these two are allegedly the oldest English elms in the Western Hemisphere. Elms used to be widespread in American cities but sadly were decimated in the 20th century but Dutch elm disease, a fungal infection spread by an invasive beetle. The trees planted by John Hancock were protected from the disease because their roots are encased in the stone vault.

Elm trees can live for up to 400 years (!) and arborists are determined to keep these two alive for as long as possible. One method they use is heavy pruning, which prevents damage from heavy winds or ice and also encourages the trunk to stay thick and healthy. They've also filled in hollow parts of their trunks with bricks to stabilize the tree. The trees may look odd but they are very healthy.

Surprisingly they are not the oldest trees in Boston. I think that title belongs to a bonsai tree in Arnold Arboretum which was planted in Japan in 1737 and later brought to Massachusetts. But even that bonsai is young compared to a pear tree planted by the Puritan leader John Endecott in the mid-1600s which is still alive in Danvers, Massachusetts today.

All the trees I've mentioned so far are domestic and were planted by humans. There are wild trees that are even older. The oldest tree in Massachusetts is a 450+ year old hemlock in the Mohawk Trail State Forest. Trees of similar ages can also be found in Sherburne, Vermont and New Hebron, New Hampshire. Most of the original trees in this region have been cut down but there are still a few pockets of old growth forest left.

I don't have much else to say. Trees are amazing beings. They're good for the atmosphere, good for animals and birds, and good for our mental health. Maybe some day the tree in your backyard will be hundreds of years old!

John Hancock's Uneasy Afterlife

It's Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts, which means the Boston Marathon, battle reenactments and a Red Sox game at Fenway. In the spirit of the holiday I'm devoting this week's post to a local patriot: John Hancock.

John Hancock is most famous for his dramatic signature on the Declaration of Independence but his life was notable for many other reasons. Hancock, who was born in Braintree in 1736, was extraordinarily wealthy, hung around with radicals like Sam Adams, and became the first governor of Massachusetts when it became independent from the British.

As befits such an important patriot, Hancock's grave is marked with a large monument in Boston's Granary Burying Ground. There's just one catch though - he might not be in it.

He was definitely interred in the Granary Burying Ground when he died in 1793. The large monument was erected in the 19th century; he was initially buried in a brick tomb marked with a white marble slab.

It's too bad he didn't get the bigger monument right away, though, because it might have deterred the grave robbers. According to legend John Hancock was buried with large rings on both hands. Grave robbers came one night to steal them but had trouble prying them off the corpse's stiff fingers. Afraid of being discovered the robbers quickly cut off his hands and escaped into the night. Poor John Hancock's hands were never found. We can assume the robbers sold the rings.

That's pretty gruesome, but things got even worse for Hancock's body when his tomb was destroyed in 1860s during construction on a Park Street basement. The bricks and marble were carted away with the debris and his coffin, which allegedly was made of lead, was melted down to make pipes. His body simply disappeared.

I wish I could say that John Hancock's ghost haunts Tremont and Park Streets looking for his hands, but it doesn't. He devoted his life to the nation so I guess he doesn't care what happened to his body.

I also wish I could definitively say these stories are true, but I can't. I found references to these stories many places on the web but couldn't find any verification in print. The two Hancock biographies I found at the library end with his death, and don't cover the history of his tomb. A guidebook to the the Granary Burying Ground had disappeared from the reference section. If anyone knows anything about these stories please let me know!

Like so many events associated with our nation's founding I'll have to be satisfied with a mix of legend and history. At least it's interesting!