Sights in Boston and suburbs : or, guide to the stranger . a mixture of elms and Paddock was a loyalist, left Boston in 1776, and set-tled in Nova Scotia, where his descendants still live. The Great Elm is one of the lions — perhaps thelion — of Boston Common. Still hale and strong, itstands about the centre of the green, and is supposed,from various data, to be upwards of two hundred yearsold. In 1825 it was sixty-five feet high, the circumference atthirty inches from the ground being twenty-one feet eightinches, and the spread of branches eighty-six feet. In1855 it was measur
Sights in Boston and suburbs : or, guide to the stranger . a mixture of elms and Paddock was a loyalist, left Boston in 1776, and set-tled in Nova Scotia, where his descendants still live. The Great Elm is one of the lions — perhaps thelion — of Boston Common. Still hale and strong, itstands about the centre of the green, and is supposed,from various data, to be upwards of two hundred yearsold. In 1825 it was sixty-five feet high, the circumference atthirty inches from the ground being twenty-one feet eightinches, and the spread of branches eighty-six feet. In1855 it was measured, and found to be seventy-two and ahalf feet in height; height of first branch from the ground, ??> BOSTON SIGHTS. twenty-two and a half feet; girth four feet from the ground,seventeen feet; average diameter of greatest spread ofbranches, one hundred and one feet. This shows that theelm has grown considerably within the last quarter of acentury. But this colossal plant has more interesting featuresthan its age or size, though they are STJMMEE ELM. There was once a powder magazine near*this tree, onthe little hill at whose foot it stands. This hill, also, dur-ing the siege of Boston, was the site of a British fortifica-tion, bombarded by Washington. THE GREAT ELM. 73 In the war of 1812 its existence was endangered by theencampment around it of American troops, destined toprotect the town. It has often been exposed to injury bythe custom of hanging and burning emgies upon its giantbranches; and many turbulent occasions, on Election andIndependence days, have exposed the tree to violence.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidsightsinbost, bookyear1856
