Scavenger Hunt: Site #2

SITE 2 (OF 7): 

Herbie the Elm (by Community Services/Town Hall)

Photo Source: Wikipedia (April 2008)

Herbie: Herbie, Yarmouth’s beloved champion elm tree, stood tall at the corner of East Main Street and Yankee Drive. Considered to be the largest and oldest elm in New England, Herbie was cared for by tree warden Frank Knight and captivated locals and visitors alike, but eventually succumbed to Dutch elm disease and was cut down in early 2010. Analysis of tree rings suggested that Herbie was about 217 years old and was planted around 1793.

Fun fact: A local girl named Donna who grew up next to Herbie is credited with coming up with the name “Herbie” around 1950. The name stuck!

Bibliography:

Adult (5)

• Farmer’s Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees (2022) – MML has 1 copy; 7 more copies in Minerva
• Maine Forest Service’s Forest Trees of Maine: 1908-2008 (2009) – MML has 1 copy; 3 more copies in Minerva
• Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree (2021) – MML’s copy in repair; 30 more copies in Minerva
• Thoreau’s The Maine Woods (1864, 2004 ed.) – MML has 1 copy (only copy in Minerva)
• Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees (2016) *in trans.* – MML has 1 copy; 45 more copies in Minerva

Juvenile (3)

• Butterfield’s The Secret Life of Trees (2020) – MML has 1 copy; 1 more copy in Minerva
• Judge’s The Wisdom of Trees: How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom (2021) – MML has 1 copy; 18 more copies in Minerva
• Wohlleben’s Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest (2019) – MML has 1 copy; 15 more copies in Minerva