What's the Hill's oldest landmark at Cornell University? One of the "Old Stone Row" buildings on the Arts Quad--Morrill, McGraw, and White halls--dating from the 1860s?
Actually a nearby neighbor beats them by at least two centuries.
With an estimated age of nearly 400, a huge white oak on the southern end of Libe Slope--along Campus Road, just below Cornell Health--is the longest-lived tree on Cornell's campus.
Cows once grazed in the pasture around it as it graced founder Ezra Cornell's farmland. Its distinctive branches and broad canopy, familiar to generations of Cornellians, haven't changed much during the entirety of the University's existence.
"It has been my favorite tree on campus since my undergraduate days," says David Cutter '84, BS '85, the University's longtime landscape architect. "I often think about all the people, events, and changes it has witnessed over the centuries. If only trees could talk!"
Ezra--recently retired after making his fortune in the telegraph business--purchased the farmland in 1857. Dubbing the 300-acre tract Forest Park, he raised purebred cattle.
In 1865, he donated most of the property, including the land on which the oak sits, to create the University.
Nina Bassuk '74 is a horticulture professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science and program leader of Cornell's Urban Horticulture Institute. While part of her job involves planting trees on campus (which boasts more than 7,000, according to the University's tree inventory), the white oak is a particular favorite.
"I've watched and admired it for 50 years," says Bassuk, who returned to the Hill shortly after her graduate work at the University of London.
According to the inventory, the oak officially measures 60 inches in diameter (recorded 4.5 feet from the ground, standard for tree measurements), and 105 feet in crown spread (the average between its widest and narrowest points).
Cutter points out that as West Campus was developed in the 1920s and '30s, the tree was not only preserved but showcased: "The way that Campus Road winds up Libe Slope was consciously designed to feature views of this majestic oak from both directions."
The 1932 General Plan of Development for the University was the first to sketch out the trajectory of Campus Road, he notes, "and the oak is clearly depicted at the bend of the road."
As Bassuk explains, a white oak (quercus alba) like the one on the Slope, if not overly stressed by its environment, can likely live 500 years or more--though she recalls a cautionary tale from some three decades ago.
"One time, somebody wanted to 'take care' of it and tried to fertilize it, which was not a good thing to do for a tree of that age because it causes unusual vigorous growth, some really strong vertical shoots," she says. "And actually, you can still see that; some branches go straight up, which is unusual."
Cutter acknowledges that the oak is showing inevitable signs of age. So grounds crew and arborists regularly monitor its health--mitigating, where possible, the threats posed by its location on a busy campus.
For example, plans are in the works to remove a sidewalk that runs under the canopy, in part to reduce exposure to the salt used to keep pathways safe in winter.
"Hopefully," he says, "the tree will continue to welcome people to campus for years to come."
Categories: New York, General