What must this tree have seen in its 200 plus years, situate on the banks of the Delaware River?
1810
Was this majestic Maple sad when it watched the first Colonial settler, William Erwin, clear the neighboring trees only to plant 126 acres of farm fields? What did it think of the fine brick home, frame barn and carriage house that rose up next to land it had watched since it had first sprung from the earth?
“a good two-story brick mansion house with two rooms and a large hall below and three rooms above with a kitchen adjoining, and a cellar underneath; a wash house and well of excellent water near the door; a large, frame barn, convenient wagon house and corncribs adjoining with a young and thrifty apple orchard with a variety of other fruit trees upon the premises." 1845 advertisement
1829
Did the tree ponder over the purpose of digging a ditch not a quarter mile from the bounding Delaware river just to hold water? Did it question the hundreds of boats that puttered annually along the newly built canal, toiling daily from 4 am to 10pm?
1833
Surely it"s leaves quivered a little, witnessing the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1833. Did it wonder if the stars in the sky were falling to earth?
“The whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another.” 1833 account
1841
Did it quake as the waters rose above the banks of the Delaware in the great flood of 1841? Did it worry for its life as whole bridges careened past on a raging torrent?
1845
Did the Tree welcome the Stovers, a new family that settled beneath its bows, in 1845? Those branches were higher now, and produced more soothing shade. Did it wonder about who they were and what changes they would bring to the land?
1861
Did the tree understand the significance of the young men marching by to enlist in W.W.H. Davis's Ringgold Regiment on September 27, 1861? The Erwinna Hotel was just down the road. The Civil War, though, was far from home. Did it miss those boys who did not return after fighting on the front?
1870
How did the Tree feel, watching raft after raft of lumber floating down the Delaware River? Was it nervous for it's own fate? Did it become nostalgic for a time not so long past when the fields it stood guard over had once been a dense wood?
Raftsmen giving tourists a lift down the Delaware River. Date unknown. | Image provided by Sullivan County historian John Conway
1880
Did it admire the new outbuildings Jacob Stover built; the bank barn with its Italianate cupola, the hay barn and carriage house, or did it wish that its view of the mountain ridge had never been blocked?
1901
How many spawning seasons did the tree stand witness to on that river out there? How many fisherman came past through the years with their nets and poles? Too many to count, for certain.
1903
Did the tree wonder at the giant branchless trees being planted along the road? What purpose could they serve? Where were their branches on which birds could nest? Instead, long black lines joined each to the next. Where were the nuts for squirrels to hoard?
1907
Did the smoke from the new tractor make the Tree choke and sputter?
1914
Did the tree wonder at the horse-drawn carriages filled with people traveling along the dirt road underneath its boughs? Where did they come from and where they were going?
Stagecoach on the unpaved road that ran from the Frenchtown Train Station to Jordan Stover's Riverside farm, 1914
1920
Did it marvel at the daring men who crossed the frozen river and trusted in mother nature to hold them up, even as they cut away at the ice beneath them? Was it too sleepy in winter, to notice, waiting for Spring thaw to give it life and energy again?
1931
As the canal industry slowed, did the tree notice that the once frequent passings of canal boats were fewer now and farther between? Was it pleased to see hurry and flurry slow, and industry give way to parks and pastimes?
Governor Pynchon accepting the deed for the Canal from the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, October 1931. The first step in making the canal a State Park.