Near miss at Maplecroft!!!

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:23 pm

I was shocked to see that a tree had fallen on the front lawn during the storm. It was a horrible thought, the tree hitting the house and causing damage. With all due respect to Mr. Dube's privacy, here are some pictures.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:25 pm

Here's a broader view of the house with the felled tree.

shakiboo · Post by **shakiboo** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:26 pm

Oh that could have been bad!!

1bigsteve · Post by **1bigsteve** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:52 pm

I'm glad no one was killed! A woman not too far from me died when a tree fell through her house during a storm last year. One moment you are alive and the next instant it's "knock, knock." You never know.

Well, this may give the owner an opportunity to plant a new one, a new maple maybe. Lizzie would love that.

-1bigsteve (o:

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:10 pm

I wonder if that is a tree from Lizzie's day.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:21 pm

We were all wondering that. It would have to be at least 79 years old now to have been there in 1927, 113 years old to have been planted when she moved in in 1893. The trunk was pretty thick. There are some vintage pix of Maplecroft to compare. There may also have been maples in the back yard.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:41 pm

Somewhere in my files there is a photo of Maplecroft that appeared in the June 1996 Yankee magazine. It shows an old car (don't know the year and make but definitely prior to 1927) parked in front. It also shows a tree in that location.

Right now I'm headed to bed but I'll try to post it tomorrow. Maybe Kat can find it in her files and post it.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:59 am

Here's the photo of Maplecroft showing the tree.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:19 am

Yay Harry! That's it- oh, I do feel more sad now that it is gone.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:10 am

I don't think that's the same tree. It seems to be the Swift's tree, or is the angle off for me?

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:07 pm

Check the fork or "crotch" of the tree and you will see it is identical. In the color photo of course that fork culminates in broken -off branches. The 2 angles are somewhat different, and over years many branches have been lost. The position of the trunk does look over further to the left in the old photo, but maybe it is a question of angle. It takes awhile for a tree to grow to that size, and seems unlikely that 2 trees would have been planted at one time so close together. Sadly, now I can't try for a duplicate angles as the old faithful maple is gone.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:50 am

I'm looking at the base compared to the walkway in front of the Swift house to their front porch. That tree that fell is 1/2 a front lawn over towards Maplecroft.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:33 pm

I see. I put a magnifying glass on the old vintage photo and there appears to be another smaller tree to the right of the large one.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:24 pm

Good catch, Kat, that the large tree is not the one.

Good catch, Shelley, that there is a second tree. It is clearly visible in this enlarged portion of the photo and looks in the right position for the one that fell. In any case it looks like it was there in Lizzie's time. Alas, no more.

William in the past has noted the wooden stairs leading to the front door. I don't remember if we ever learned how they got there or were removed.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:52 pm

Harry, you have taught us to look closely at things like this and analyze what we see or don't see. I have you to thank for that kind of training and developing my powers of observation.
I mean- we have actually practiced it here!
It's also Fun!

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:50 pm

I'm glad I braved the rain and the winds that day to get the photograph. I'm still tripping over how easily the tree could have smashed into the house.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:53 pm

This isn't anything you haven't seen before, but just thought I'd post it for completeness sake.

Click on the photo for higher resolution.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:19 pm

The rootball and deep hole of the victim of the storm. There is a good photo in Rebello of the trees- yes, this is the one second on the right which went down last weekend. This shows the exact alignment of the trunk in front of the house, near the corner.

shakiboo · Post by **shakiboo** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:18 pm

aaahhhh, that's too bad, "to everything there is a season".........

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:00 am

How did it miss the house?

Thank you for the picture.
Is it cleared away or are you guys hearing chain saws everywhere everday? That's familiar!

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:13 am

It is still laying just as it fell as of Sunday noon. It is a miracle it did not collapse on the porch.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:24 pm

The Great Maple in repose, now chopped neatly into chunks. There was a wheelbarrow full of fireplace -sized logs by the front steps. I am wondering if the fireplace inside might be taking advantage of this "wind"fall from last October.

Nadzieja · Post by **Nadzieja** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:55 pm

I cannot believe that tree didn't hit either house. It could have gone either way. I want to thank all of you so much for posting these pictures. It is so interesting to see what going on over there. Is this house for sale? Someone mentioned it, but I'm sure you all would know for sure.

william · Post by **william** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:02 am

Was this the last maple tree growing on the property? If so it would be the last of the Mohicans, so to speak - and the reason Maplecroft originally received its title.