Davey Tree Flipbooks

14 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | March/April 2019 HISTORIC OAK WITNESSED AMERICA'S BIRTH Standing on the Potomac River, a seemingly unexceptional oak tree stretches its branches out like so many reaching arms high above the calm, green water. As unassuming as it may be, this southern red oak could tell some stories – 400 years' worth to be exact. The tree stands on Hull Springs Farm, a 662-acre property bequeathed to Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, in 2000 by a 1938 alumna, whose family had owned the farm for generations. "The tree is actually up in Westmoreland County," said Chris Reppert, sales arborist, Richmond R/C office. "You go down this winding dirt road for what feels like 2 miles, and you end up at the banks of the Potomac with this old house and a gigantic tree right on the river." Yet the Bob Ross-style landscape imagery the tree and farm conjure is not its most alluring element. It's the tree's longevity. Sherry Swinson, director of Hull Springs Farm, said the original land owner had asked if the school's archeology department could try and determine the age of the tree. Swinson said they were able to date the tree to 1595. "They dug a number of tiny, exploratory holes around the tree," she said. "Beneath the roots they discovered a colonial clay tobacco pipe, which they found to have been made in England and dated between 1590 and about 1630. So, they figured somebody had dropped that tobacco pipe there and the tree had grown over it." Further confirming its lifespan, two faculty members from Longwood's natural sciences department drilled a pencil-sized cylinder of wood from the center of the oak and used microscopes to count the rings. They determined the tree had been a year-old sapling in 1595, Swinson said. "So that corresponded with the age of the pipe they had found," she said. "It was pretty exciting to discover that it dates to 1595." Davey has been fertilizing the tree for about 15 years. Suddenly, lightning struck the tree in August just as a group of students were encircling MISSION the base for a group photo. Naturally, the university sought only the best restorative care from Davey for this monument to history. Reppert said the lightning strike damaged nearly one-quarter of the tree's canopy and left some large branches hanging dangerously. "We installed a lightning protection system and put some brace rods where the original top of the canopy came out," he said. "A crack in the trunk had continued to grow, so we put some brace rods in to cinch that back together." And of course, they pruned it to remove the damaged limbs. Reppert said the Richmond office will continue fertilizing the tree to try and grow back some of the lost canopy. He also is scheduling borer treatments for the next few years, as pests can move in when a tree endures a stressful event. Longwood University has constructed a wetlands mitigation bank on the property and uses Hull Springs Farm as an environmental research station, where students and faculty study

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