| Old
White Pine on an island, Schroon Lake, NY |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
13, 2006 20:59 PDT |
I was wondering if any of the members of this list have heard of
this
tree.
It's on an island called Word of Life Island. It's about a mile
from
shore, in Schroon Lake, across from the town or village of
Schroon Lake
in the Adirondacks.
It's approximately 4 feet in diameter or larger. But it is not
very tall
for such an old tree, since the top came down in a storm a long
time
ago. I saw this tree during the summers of 1981 and 82. It's
magnificent
even without a top. I also have some low quality photos that I
took of
it back then. When I was there we were told that it was 500
years old.
The island it's on is a 90 acre island used as a summer camp,
owned by
the organization, Word of Life.
Barry
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| RE:
Old White Pine on an island, Schroon Lake, NY |
fores-@earthlink.net |
| May
13, 2006 22:19 PDT |
Interesting. I did notice lots of nice trees along the East
shore of
Schroon Lake and on the eastern side of the road that goes along
it, there
are a number of sections there that have some very nice
hardwoods, surely
OG HW with even a few OG softwood mixed in for sure. Probably
some of the
woods were cut out for softwoods but a number of chunks sure
seem like OG
HW, nice specimens.
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| RE:
Old White Pine on an island, Schroon Lake, NY |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
14, 2006 02:03 PDT |
Also I remember the camp people telling us that it is the oldest
White
Pine in New York State. I'm pretty sure of that.
Also photographed a very old Paper Birch, that I think was about
2.5 feet
in diameter. That too was a neat tree.
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| RE:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
15, 2006 12:55 PDT |
Hi,
I figured I'd give more history on the island where this tree is
located. I believe it was the estate of a Miss Clark, who was
the
heiress to the Clark Thread fortune. There was a big house on
the island
that must have been her house, which Word of Life called
"The White
House". This island is heavily wooded, and was supposed to
have survived
all the logging that went on in the Adirondacks. The Word of
Life people
told us the tree in question was the oldest White Pine in the
State of
New York.
I'd like to find out if that is indeed true. I'd also like to
find out
if there are any members here who live near enough to the site
to
measure that tree. It's huge.
Glad to have joined this group. I love trees, and live in
southern New
Jersey.
Barry
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| RE:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Robert
Leverett |
| May
15, 2006 13:04 PDT |
Barry,
The tree sounds like it is definitely worth
visiting. In terms of the
oldest white pine in New York, about 10 years ago a pine was
dated in
Nelson Swamp near Syracuse by Dr. Don Leopold to an age of 458
years.
Allowing for about 3 years to the base and 10 years since
dating, the
age is now at least 470 years. That pine is the oldest that has
been
accurately dated in New York.
Howard Stoner who teaches at Hudson Valley
Community College may be
the first to get a crack at measuring the tree. It sounds like
we
definitely need to get to the tree. How would we go about
getting
permission?
Bob
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| RE:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
15, 2006 16:20 PDT |
Hi Bob,
I would guess that the best way would be to go to Word of Life's
world
headquarters, or to the Word of Life Inn, and ask there. The
World
Headquarters is on Route 9 between Pottersville and Schroon
Lake. I'm
sorry I don't know how far from either town though. The Inn is
in
Schroon Lake itself, the village that is.
You used to be able to write Word of Life simply by addressing a
letter
to Word Of Life, Schroon Lake New York, 12870, but now they have
a p.o.
box number. I'm not sure what it is.
Asking in person at the headquarters might work though. I don't
think
they'd have a problem with such a thing. Last I knew they were
pretty
proud of that tree. The headquarters is easy to find along Route
9 and
the lakeshore.
I went to the Bible Institute, which was in Pottersville, but I
also
attended summer camp on the Island the year before that. That's
when I
photographed the tree. I was astounded by its size. I've never
seen a
pine tree of any species that was so big.
Oh, and I neglected to mention in my earlier post, that Word of
Life
purchased the island in 1946. So this year is the island's 60th
anniversary.
Barry
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| Re:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Howard
Stoner |
| May
15, 2006 16:52 PDT |
Barry,
I am familiar with where the Word of Life headquarters is on
route 9 and
will plan to take a trip
up that way in the near future. Thanks for bringing this tree to
our
attention, I will attempt of get
measurements to document the size of the tree, age is another
matter.
Do they run a boat service to get to the island or would I need
my own
mode of water travel?
Do you know any names of people there that might be helpful to
drop, or
would it be helpfull to use your name?
Thanks again and welcome to ENTS.
Howard
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| RE:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
15, 2006 17:22 PDT |
Howard,
During the summer camp season they run boats to the island
several times
a day. During this time of year I'm not sure, but they may even
arrange
one for you.
As for mentioning my name, I'm a September 1982 graduate of the
Institute. My name, despite what I call myself, is Donald
Caselli.
I'm really excited that this tree may get measured now.
Barry
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| RE:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
15, 2006 18:17 PDT |
Will,
It's done. I've uploaded my photos of the tree to my gallery
called
"Barry's Nature Photos", on my Webshots photo gallery
page. They are the
last two photos in the gallery.
http://community.webshots.com/user/dbarryc63
I took the photos with a 110 camera, and wasn't able to get a
decent
vantage point for the time of day when I had my chance to do it.
With my limited knowledge and experience as an 18 year old
(aproximately), I guessed that the diameter of the trunk was
about 4
feet.
Barry
Will Blozan wrote:
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Can you post any images of the tree?
Will |
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| RE:
Old White Pine -- Schroon Lake, NY --more |
Barry
Caselli |
| May
16, 2006 01:59 PDT |
Michele,
Word of Life is an organization that has Christian summer youth
camps
all over the world, their first ones being the ones they started
in the
Adirondacks. They also have Bible Institutes all over the world,
and
they send Christian missionaries all over the world.
Michele Wilson wrote:
| |
So what is the entity called "Word of Life"
and what does it do? I can
presume this or that but wondered if you could shed a
little more
light...
Michele Wilson |
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