Because You Asked . . . . | ||||
American Chestnut in Bloom May 2003 |
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Tree Fund Named For Nathan Marble |
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During a June 1978 photo shoot for the Arts and
Crafts Fair sponsored by Community Library, Polly Brehm noticed the trees
on the square were losing their leaves. She contacted the Ohio
Division of Forestry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was given
a plan for saving the trees. With the Village Council's approval,
the Marble Tree Fund was started to protect the trees.
During the early years of the town, all trees were removed from the square and it was fenced fro grazing livestock. Just as in Conrad Richter's novels, The Trees, The Fields and The Town, the residents of the community began to miss the trees. The village council as Nathan Marble, local carpenter, to plant trees on the square. He did so putting the in rings of 8 on each of the quadrants of the square. He selected trees representative of the large native trees growing in the area when the settlers founded the town. The American Chestnut shown above is believed to be one of his trees. The trees were maintained in a three year cycle: one year the trees were drastically pruned to remove the weight and the second the trees were fed. All three years the trees were pruned of suckers, ringed and mulched by volunteers including Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in May. The village provided mulch from supply they made from leaves and brush picked up around town. The Marble Tree Fund operated on donations from the Flea Markets, the big users of the square, and individuals. It operated until the village took over the care of the trees in the late 1980's. |
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Marble Tree Fund: |
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Scouts Work on Square Trees | American Chestnut Comes Down, 8-2003 | |||
photo
by Lenny Lepola |
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. . . .And Now You
Know
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(04/01/2006 ) |
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