Life's a Beech

The historic and enormous copper beech located in front of Woodward Hall, a residence facility at Dean College facing Franklin's Main Street and adjacent to the public library, suffered serious damage, reportedly in the overnight hours, leaving some on Tuesday morning to suppose that the whole tree had come down.

What had happened, apparently  is that a large lower limb, probably close to two-feet in diameter, but apparently suffering some kind of rot near where it joined the body of the trunk snapped off, seemingly bringing an upper limb down with it. The combination snapped of a lamp post and blocked the walkway from Main Street to the Dean Student Center but seems to have caused no other damage and no injuries.

Sandra Cain, Dean Executive Vice President, who was away from campus but reached by phone, indicated that her understanding was that the tree was damaged but should recover.

The tree was originally an adornment of one of the Ray family homes, a structure which became a Dean dorm for decades, until destroyed by fire some 25 years ago. When Woodward Hall was being constructed as a replacement, much of the root system was exposed but was kept wet throughout the process. Cain said Reilly Tree and Landscape has maintained the tree for many years.