Explore the Adirondacks:
Nature Walk: Visit to the Elders Grove
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Join VIC Naturalist Michelle Berrus from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM for a visit to the Elders Grove in nearby Easy Street. White Pine #103, one of about fifty white pines in this twelve-acre site, has a circumference of 13.1 feet and a diameter at 50.1 inches. It is 160.4 feet tall -- the tallest tree on record in New York State.
The trees in the grove are all about the same age. For this reason, it is thought that the trees may have germinated in the wake of a windstorm or other disturbance that struck the region between 1675 and 1680, over three centuries ago. The trees in the grove, also known as the 1675 Grove, are among the oldest in the East.
Although the trees surrounding the site have been logged, the elders were spared, possibly because early loggers were unsure of property lines. The Elders Grove stand is now part of the Forest Preserve, where logging is prohibited. Some of the trees in the grove have died of old age.
The program costs $20 per person or $15 for Friends of the VIC.
Photo: Sandra Hildreth