Quick! What’s your favorite tree?

Whether from childhood or today, everybody can tell a story about a Tree. Trees are creatures that invite us into thin places: that zone where we feel something “else”. For the Celts, trees were entrances to the Otherworld, the Land of Fae. Because of their size, their longevity, their generosity with shade, wood and food, trees have always been an intimate part of human life. They have a trunk and limbs – like we do. Human history is full of special trees: Council Trees, Treaty Trees, Wisdom Trees, Scary Trees, Sacred Trees.

But since Hurricane Irene and that October snowstorm, most people around here do not see trees as kindly. People’s fear and anger at trees have resulted in quite a bit of pre-emptive cutting in the last months.

In our area there are many special trees. Often they are protected in the cemeteries. The 65-acre Warwick Cemetery on Route 94 at Route 17A, designed by landscape gardener B.F. Hathaway in 1866, has many features of a garden and several unusual trees, including a dramatic row of ancient sugar maples. But the more powerful trees are hiding in plain sight in fields, in woods and even in backyards. One of my favorite is an oak tree just off Route 94 at the intersection of Pennings Lane and Hoyt Road in Warwick. It’s down an embankment, across a stream and just up the rise. It’s big. The circumference is six feet and there is a stand of smaller trees surrounding and protecting it. But that’s only one tree around here. Dirt invites you to send a picture and a few words about the tree that makes you dream.

By Daniel Mack Share your favorite tree at dirt-mag.com.

Dan can be reached at rustic@warwick.net.