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Eulogy for a very old friend

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Staff

A Thousand Words
By Jock Lauterer


To a townie like me, every single tree in Polk and McCorkle Place is like a dear playmate with whom I have grown old. So this summer when I saw the bare branches on my favorite post oak (Quercus stellata) between the Old and New West buildings, I began grieving in advance. And the way a photographer grieves is by making pictures; I shot its noble profile … I laid on my back at its massive base looking straight up into its gnarly branches … I photographed it lovingly with the knowledge that its days were numbered and that I alone must document its last autumn. Even as prepared as I was, the actual sight of the tree lying prone on the campus grass drew from me a sharp gasp. To his credit, university arborist Tom Bythell, who oversees the care and maintenance of the campus trees, was kind enough to respond promptly to my query. Bythell explained via email, “We can attribute the decline to a combination of factors that have put this tree under stress over the course of many years,” including “infestations of Ambrosia beetles and phytophthora root rot.” And he adds, “We did several Borer treatments this past spring [which] were unsuccessful.” Bythell estimates the post oak, sadly rotten and hollow at its core, was 160 to 180 years old, which means it might have been planted around the time New West was completed in 1861, at the dawn of the Civil War. And if there is a silver lining to this story, it is this: The huge trunk has been taken to the N.C. Botanical Garden, where I’m told it will be fashioned into a bench. When it is finished, I will make a pilgrimage to visit my old friend, Quercus stallata, useful as ever in another life.

A THOUSAND WORDS
Do you have an important old photo that you value? Email your photo to jock@email.unc.edu and include the story behind the picture. Because every picture tells a story. And its worth? A thousand words.
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