Next Stop, Place des Vosges

Place des Vosges was commissioned by King Henry II as a jousting arena. It was here that he was mortally wounded in a jousting match in 1559, dying 9 days later. That event is one of the great crises of French royal history and marks the beginning of 50 tumultuous years in French history, known as the Wars of Religion, ending in 1610.

Sculpting the Trees in Paris

These trees, in the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris, are unlike any in the Adirondack Park. The French people seem to enjoy pruning the trees into squares and rectangles, which lends a formality to them, as if they are not trees at all, but manmade sculptures, each in its place, in a row, in the park. Perhaps this is particular to the parks in Paris and other French cities, and not to the country trees. We like the sculpted trees of Paris.

A View of the Forest

The tall trees around Penwood: slender, reaching for the light. Some of these grand trees, our old friends, were lost as a result of the construction of the new house. One by one, they have died and had to be taken down to avoid the inevitable crash into the house in a windstorm. These trees sway so dramatically in the wind, it's surprising that they lasted so long.

Adirondack Trees in Jeopardy?

Are the trees of the Adirondack Park dying? We have noticed that more trees are diseased and dying at Penwood in recent years than in years past. Some are destroyed by disease, creeping up the majestic trees and strangling them from the roots to the top, slowly, deliberately, until they are sufficiently weakened that a strong gust of wind can finish them off. Others are taken out by the weather - record winds this past weekend downed a dozen trees at Penwood, including a venerable old friend that stood at the entryway to the Nina's Camp driveway. Trees on the Penwood peninsula have had a tough time of it: the forest was decimated by raging fire prior to its acquisition by Helen Seymour Sylvester and her husband William. At that time, around 1901, the land was known as Burnt Point -- for obvious reasons. The Sylvesters set about building not only a spectacular great camp lodge, boathouse, pump house, dock, lean-tos, privy, and other structures, but replanted the land with hemlocks and pine trees. Today, we are replanting as well, though so far we have mostly planted white birches and river birches. Plant trees now: it's nothing short of an investment in the future of the Park.