When I first saw the beautiful tree growing on 51st Avenue near 24th Street in August of 2009, I was amazed. I sensed it had to be 75 years or more. It towered over the cinderblock buildings nearby. And, it seemed to rival the distant Empire State Building, seen in over the haze at the end of 51st Ave, where it meets the Long Island Railroad track, with the entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel right behind.
I thought, among all these gray and brick buildings, this is really a huge tree! What must this tree have experienced?
Several days later I began to investigate the tree. I stopped the car, and got out. It seemed so very healthy, so green, so happy. I estimated the height to be about 70 feet. It was near a one-story structure, entered through a court yard on Borden Avenue. Protected by a chain-link fence that surrounded the back of the building, the tree seemed safe. Vines grew up around it and onto the building next to it. I reached up and grabbed a nice leaf, took it home and - just as I had always done since childhood - pressed it in a book.
Then, I located my Master Tree-Finder, by May Theilgaard Watts, a hand-me-down from my mother's collection of nature things. Page by page of descriptions and elimination of other types of trees, led me to the Cottonwood tree. Ah, an Eastern Cottonwood! Wasn't this the tree that usually grew up by streams in the country? But, why here in Queens, amid this industrial jungle?
Then, I located my Master Tree-Finder, by May Theilgaard Watts, a hand-me-down from my mother's collection of nature things. Page by page of descriptions and elimination of other types of trees, led me to the Cottonwood tree. Ah, an Eastern Cottonwood! Wasn't this the tree that usually grew up by streams in the country? But, why here in Queens, amid this industrial jungle?
Because a cottonwood tree needs lots of water, indeed it's roots go down to the tributaries and streams connected to the Newtown Creek, just a block to the south. Imagine, when this area was being developed in the late 19th Century, there were certainly many more such trees. No doubt it witnessed the nearby building of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in 1937 to be followed the Long Island Expressway, starting in 1939. And, it probably bent under the winds when the great hurricane of 1938 swept through the East Coast. It was there when the roads were paved, buildings razed and others built, and when the area was full of factories at full steam. It touched my imagination.
I would continue to be inspired throughout the late summer into Fall. It was so magnificent: an amazing green survivor. I looked forward to seeing it bloom in the Spring.
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