Farewell Tree 103
In early December 2021, we bid adieu to a glorious white pine once thought to be NY's tallest tree.
Note: We first read about this story at the end of 2021 but didn't have a chance to feature it. It's a timeless story of life in the forest, so we are glad to be able to feature it now.’
Photo courtesy Philip Paige
In Elder's Grove, on Paul Smith's College 14,000 acre campus in the Adirondack Mountains, stood Tree 103 in a group of white pines since the mid-to-late 1600s -- more than 100 years before NY was a state or the United States achieved independence.
At an estimated height of 160 feet, it was arguably one of the tallest trees in New York. White Pines live between 300 and 400 years, so she was clearly in her dotage. Her demise began in July of 2021 when an adjacent tree, #111, cracked about 20 feet above its base and rested heavily on #103 for support. When a mighty windstorm swept through at year-end, that was all it took to bring down majestic #103.
According to the Democrat & Chronicle, Philip Paige, a real estate broker from Madrid, was the first person to report #103 was down. As he approached the grove where the enormous white pine once stood, he and his hiking party were overwhelmed by the scent of fresh-cut pine.
"It was as if we were standing in a sawmill," he said. The smell led them straight to 103, which like 111, had snapped above its base. "When we saw it, we didn't know in that moment it was tree 103 because it was our first time going there."
Courtesy Philip Paige
Then Paige noticed the numbered tag, "And I was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is 103.' Part of what made it bittersweet was I had planned to hike there a number of times before, so I could have seen 103 standing, but instead, we found on the ground," he said.
The renowned writer, Susan Orlean, wrote a beautiful piece about #103 that appeared in the New Yorker magazine. We loved her take on mourning #103, "Do not despair: Tree 103 is no longer thrusting into the sky, but it lives on as forest debris, making fungi and bugs happy."
Ms. Orleans goes on to quote Justin Waskiewicz, a forestry professor at Paul Smith's College, "It's dead, yes, but I prefer to think that it's just not vertical anymore." Wise words, indeed.
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