Great Elm (Boston)
[2] Up to that point, the elm symbolized the Boston Common's landscape since—an early advocate for urban improvement asserted—the figure represented the finest example of "the favorite ornamental tree among us."
Consequently, planters believed that they "must plant [elms and oaks] for posterity," implicitly hoping that their efforts would result in a similar majestic outcome.
The Boston Society of Natural History funded a scientific and historical study of the tree to determine its age and importance to the city, region, and nation.
"[6] While some groups sought to scientifically determine the age of The Great Elm, apocryphal tales also attempted to highlight the history of the famous tree.
[8] As a result, very few individuals directly interacted with the Great Elm until the city transformed the designated section into a recreational center.
Some of the most elite Bostonians, like John Hancock's uncle Thomas, desired to be near the Great Elm in the Boston Common, and built their large residences as close as possible.
According to Ayer, as the number of people living nearby increased, the city began to improve the Common's condition and it consequently became an even more "popular recreation ground of the townspeople.
[13] Mark Antony Dewolfe Howe argued that the loss of this natural treasure "may have served a good purpose in making the community more tenacious of all its other possessions in the Common.
Even when the city took precautionary measures to protect the iconic centerpiece after a devastating storm in 1860, the tree still served as an inspirational symbol of Boston's past and present communities.
Fortunately, photography emerged in time for images of the majestic Great Elm to be taken before it ultimately perished, and a number of groups had the opportunity to pose in front of the venerable icon.
Although a bit overdramatic, he noted how "thousands of citizens gathered earnestly around, eager to take one farewell look, and to gain, if it should be possible, some memento, however, slight, of this historic and patriarchal representative of the Past.
The Mayor of Boston, Samuel Cobb, released a statement on a unique medium: pieces of wood from the tree that had been transformed into a thin veneer.
Under a majestic image of the Great Elm, the mayor summarized the loss of an icon: "As the Great Elm on Boston Common, with an age in years outdating the settlement of the Town, was destined to fall, by wind and decay, during the time it was under my guardianship, as the Mayor of the City, I can do no less than give the attestation of my name to certify, that this is a perfectly correct view of it, just before it fell, and that the surface on which the photograph is presented is a veneer from the wood of the veritable and venerable Tree.
