Trejbal: Blacksburg will miss the Henderson Lawn sycamore
Farewell, old sycamore
Christian Trejbal
Trejbal is a Roanoke Times editorial writer. He is stationed at the paper’s New River Valley bureau.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
Joyce Kilmer’s opening couplet is one of the most trite arboreal references in literature. It’s also one of the most famous, which is probably why it sprang to mind when Virginia Tech announced it would fell the sycamore on Henderson Lawn.
If all trees are lovely, that particular tree is special. But like all living things, time has caught up with it. Age and disease have taken their toll, and workers will remove it on Tuesday.
July 25, 2010 - 9:43 AM
What you really want in your yard on a hot summer day, is a 150-year-old oak tree.
@1,
Or a pool!!
We’ve got a 50-75 year old Maple in our backyard, lots of great shade from that. Also got some fairly old black walnut trees that give a good evening shade for our back deck. It’ll be sad to see the old sycamore go, but hopefully they’ll plant a new tree nearby after they remove it.
I’ll miss that tree, and the others taken down. That one always wowed me by it’s size. Usually you see them like that on river banks. They always get hollowed out and fall over. How old is that tree?
@4 No one knows for certain. Since it’s a sapling in early campus photos, I’d guess 125-150 years old. We’ll find out tomorrow, I suppose.