A giant friend remembered: Northampton Village Hill residents hold ceremony for 2nd beech tree to fall in last year

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Staff Writer

Published: 03-08-2023 10:37 AM

NORTHAMPTON — The second of four iconic beech trees located in a special park at the former Northampton State Hospital has fallen, leading to a recent commemorative ceremony by residents who helped care for the tree.

The trees are estimated to be between 150 and 200 years old, and are a well known landmark in the Village Hill area of Northampton. Following the closure of the hospital, the area was redeveloped into a mix of homes and businesses known as Village Hill Northampton.

The area around the beech trees, located on Olander Drive between Moser Street and Ford Crossing, had been left as an open community space, known simply as “Beech Tree Park.”

“The redevelopment process includes a commitment to saving specimen trees,” said Thomas Riddell, a professor emeritus of economics at Smith College who teaches a seminar course on the history of the former state hospital. “The park is an open space that recognizes the [trees’] grandeur and importance to the community.”

Footage from a nearby house security camera shows the beech tree falling at around 9:13 a.m. on Feb. 24, with strong winds blowing in the area. The advanced age of the trees have caused them to be vulnerable to disease, as well as structural issues from housing construction that affects the nearby soil, according to Andy Turrett, a resident at Village Hill Northampton and volunteer on the Tree Pruning Committee.

The 76-foot long beech that fell in February is the second to be removed, after the first one fell last year.

In honor of the fallen beech, a simple, nonreligious ceremony was held on Sunday in honor of the fallen tree, held at the patio area in the southeast corner of the park.

Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, an Episcopal priest and climate activist, led the ceremony.

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“I just want to say how touched I am that people on Village Hill care enough about this big old tree to want to gather for some opportunity to bid farewell,” she said in an interview. “I appreciate it when people pause to honor an element of the natural world which has disappeared or died.”

Bullit-Jonas also said that she planned to discuss with the Village Hull community potential fundraising opportunities for planting one or more new trees to replace the fallen beeches.

“There’s been a lot of conversations about that and what kind of trees to plant, because it needs to be something that can adapt to a warming, changing climate,” she said. “I don’t think we’re going to be planting beech trees which are not likely to survive. But we’re looking at different kinds of oak trees.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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