By Staff

The College plans to remove the American Beech tree in front of Finn House this fall, likely over Thanksgiving break, according to Chief Business Officer Mark Kohlman.

The tree, from which a picturesque bench swing currently hangs, is over 100 years old and has developed a “giant hole in the side, from the ground about 10 feet up.”

Kohlman warned that if the tree stays standing, it’s “going to fall over at some point and hurt somebody. We are going to cut that tree down and replace it with another tree because the tree is dead.”

He added the College would plant a new tree from a similar species; it will have a two-inch trunk diameter, because “their roots establish better than a bigger tree.”

Kohlman elaborated, saying, “If you buy a five- or six-inch tree, they don’t establish themselves as quickly as smaller trees. So two inches is as small as we go, but we’ve found that you’ll get the same size tree in 10 years; a two-inch tree will be the same size as a five-inch tree that you planted.”

The tree and its swing are among the first College landmarks one sees climbing Wiggin Street from Route 229.

Sadly, the new tree will doubtfully be large enough to accommodate a swing anytime soon.

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