Cutting Down Elsa

   

     For my second local landmark, I chose to go to the cutting down of Elsa. This was the giant elm tree that was a fixture of Oak Hill in Scarborough for years. The tree itself was estimated to be about 150-200 years old, but was dying. It also may have had Dutch-Elm disease. The town decided to cut it down either way, and hack it's remains up into various wooden items to raise money for the town.

      On the morning of October 15th, I went to Oak Hill to watch the tree get cut down. There were cranes and other tree felling trucks around. For some reason I was expecting a couple of burly men in flannel to hack at it with an axe until it fell into the road. It took quite a while for them to tie ropes to the tree and bring in a bucket truck with a man with a chainsaw inside. From there they took the tree apart little bits at a time. On the side of the road I was on there was only a few people, mostly local reporters, a town representative, and a couple people from the town public works. On the other side of the road, in the Amato's parking lot, a thrilled group of people watched on the edge of their seats the town provided.
      People seemed a little nostalgic, talking about how the tree had been there as long as they could remember, but people generally just thought of it as a good spectacle to watch. One local reporter interviewed me, which would have been my proof I was there, but alas, I must have been too boring as he didn't use me in the article in the paper. I said something about how I used to drive by the tree on the way to high school and just thought I would come and see it get cut down. I was there for little over an hour before I had to leave, at which point they still had lots to go. When I drove past later there was just a stump left of the old town landmark.

Historical Significance Of Elsa

The historical significance of Elsa isn't anything particularly special. I doubt anyone from Scarborough would even know the tree had a name or anything about it's history. Many people from Scarborough probably never even noticed it. However, the tree dates back to the early 1800's, and was certainly a part of the town for years. That would date it, at most, 100 years before any of my ancestors even came to America. In once sense the tree was significant to the town just for it's age.

 

Oak Hill in Scarborough ca. 1950, though Elsa would have been to the left of this photo, it still was at least 100 years old at this point in the town's history.

In another sense, the tree is much more a representation of the town's changes through time. Many of the town's old landmarks have gone the same way throughout the years: the abandoned drive-in became a park, the water tower (which was maybe a hundred feet from Elsa) was torn down, Winslow Homer's famous house is gated off, the old greasy spoon that seemed to be built in the fire station parking lot was replaced with a bench, Shop N' Save became Hannaford, etc, etc.. Elsa is just one more former piece of a formerly small town that is changing rapidly. So, at least I think, it's significance is not in anything it did for the town, but as a symbol of a what the town used to be, and is now.