Printer Friendly Version - Historic Tree is Source Wood for Reeces’ Donated Piece

Wood from a Local Landmark Tree Returns to Grace Town Hall: Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Loretta Reece stand with First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., next to the handmade wooden credenza they donated to the town in November. The credenza was handcrafted by local woodworkers Paul and Guy Martino from poplar wood recovered from a landmark local poplar tree. The aging tree was removed in 1998 from the grounds of the William Henry Hart House on Main Street. Photo courtesy of the Town of Old Saybrook

A historic town tree lost to old age 20 years ago was made into furniture by a local woodworker. With a donation to the town of a credenza made from that tree’s wood, Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Loretta Reece have returned to public view an artifact of town history.

The handcrafted piece’s wood was sourced from a tree that until 20 years ago towered over the General William Henry Hart House on Main Street. The poplar (or tulip tree, as it is commonly known), had stood in that prominent spot for nearly 200 years, but as it neared the end of its life, it had begun to drop branches—one caused nearly $4,000 worth of damage to the roof of the Hart House’s rear addition—and since tree experts said it had just 15 more years of life, the Old Saybrook Historical Society (OSHS) Board decided that to protect the Hart House, the tree had to come down.

A contractor that OSHS hired took the aging tree down very carefully over a three-day period in April 1998. An April 11, 1998, story in The Hartford Courant reported that the landmark tree, when it was removed, had already been certified by the Connecticut Botanical Society as one of the largest of its species in the State of Connecticut, with measurements of 99 feet in height and a 14 foot circumference.

A story in the Main Street News of May 28, 1998, reported that once the tree was cut down, a sawyer, Gus Carlson of East Haddam, set up a sawmill on the Hart House land and cut the downed tree into boards. Two local woodworkers, Paul and Guy Martino, became excited with the wood’s potential. The two operated Araucana, the shop at Main Street and Old Boston Post Road that sold both the Martinos’ handmade furniture and other unpainted furniture made in the eastern U.S., so they agreed to buy the wood to make furniture from it.

One of the pieces they made was the six-foot long credenza that the Reeces bought for their home. And this was the piece that, nearly 20 years later, the Reeces decided to donate to the town.

Now all can view the wooden credenza made from a historic and landmark local tree. First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., has placed the credenza in a prominent spot just outside the Town Hall’s main conference room on the second floor. On it, in neat piles, are arrayed important community information—brochures, maps, and fliers, that are now more easily and sampled by all who visit Town Hall.