| Tree
Interpretation at the Bement-Billings Farmstead, NY |
edniz |
| Jul
23, 2003 05:55 PDT |
Hello Tree People,
I
have developed an interpretive guide for the trees of the
Bement-Billings Farmstead, our living history site in the
Southern Tier of
NY. It currently has 10 species of trees with a mix of native
trees and
exotics. We started offering "tree talks" in July and
will be offering
these every Saturday afternoon through the end of October. We
currently
have three people that are "tree guides", but have
several others that are
interested in becoming involved in interpretation. We had about
20 people
come on July 19th and I'll be doing a talk on the 26th. We had a
very nice
story in the Binghamton paper that helped publicize the program.
After
doing some initial orientation for the public, the general
format that I want to follow is this: identification of species,
major
characteristics, reason for tree's location (volunteer, exotic,
planted,
etc.), condition of the tree, current use, historical use,
folklore or
mythological connections and interesting facts, trivia, etc. I
am compiling
a database of information from a variety of tree guides,
encyclopedias, etc.
on each species. I have about a page of information on each
species
itemized in bullet form. I have a bibliography at the end. I
have learned
that not every tree guide is in agreement on certain points. If
there is
some piece of information that is especially unusual I indicate
the source.
I
also want to collect personal stories as well. So far I have
two of them. One of our interpreters, Gerry Curkendall, had
grandparents
who moved from Missouri around the turn of the century. He still
remembers
his grandmother having sassafras leaves shipped in from her home
state for
medicinal purposes. I have my own story relating to dead elm
trees being a
great source for oyster mushrooms. My father and I picked
bushels of them
over the years. One year my uncle cut some dead elm and placed
it in the
cellar. The humidity and temperature were perfect for the
creation of a
mushroom farm 24 hours later.
I
have acquired some very interesting and valuable information
from a book my father bought years ago, 1001 Answers to
Questions About
Trees by Rutherford Platt (pub. 1959). I have looked at this on
occasion
over the years, but I am reading straight through it and it has
been a real
pleasure.
I
also found a wonderful woodcut from a book, The Man Who
Planted Trees by Jean Giono. Michael McCurdy did the artwork. I
contacted
him and he very graciously allowed me to use one of his pieces
for the cover
of the guide. It shows a man with a walking stick dwarfed by
towering trees
in the background. It is a perfect touch.
As
I have been promoting these tree talks, I heard two unusual
comments. One individual said that she was surprised that there
was so much
interest in such an obscure topic. Another person said that he
viewed this
as primarily a way of enticing people to the Farmstead so that
they would
look at the buildings. Tree interpretation didn't have that much
importance
in its own right. I didn't feel like launching into a tirade on
either
occasion, but it is a reflection of how the public has so little
appreciation and understanding of the role that trees and
forests have
played in our lives and their absolutely vital role today.
If
you would like a copy of the brochure, send me your address
off-list. If you would like my database of information, I can
send it to
you as an attachment. I do have a number of questions about
individual
species that I would like to share with the group. I will post
these
individually.
Ed Nizalowski
Newark Valley Historical Society |
|