If you look around campus, you will find one historic piece of nature wherever you go: trees. Trees at Deerfield Academy come in all different types of species, ages, and sizes. The Plant Administration, part of the Physical Plant Department, depicts the upkeep of trees and some of the riddling diseases Deerfield had encountered over the years that have put many lives of trees at risk.
Director of Facilities Operations David Purington explained the process behind maintaining trees, saying, “There are really two reasons you would cut a tree down. The primary reason is if it’s dying or failing, such as the big tree we took down around [Pocumtuck] … when we cut down the tree and looked at the stump, most of it was rotten. This year we decided the danger was greater than the value.” Although students may have found removing this tree upsetting, keeping up the trees would have been dangerous. Mr. Purington added, “We are not afraid to cut down a tree that needs to come down, and that’s important [so] we don’t hold on to them too long.”
Deerfield has only one surviving elm tree that it works hard to preserve. In the 1970s, Dutch elm disease swept across the northeastern United States, wiping out entire tree-lined streets. Mr. Purington commented, “Historic Deerfield used to be lined with elm trees until they all died, and they had to start over and replant.” As a result, the grounds team and a specialty team vendor annually inject nutrients into the elm tree, located to the left of the Rosenwald dormitory, to strengthen and preserve it.
Mr. Purington further pointed out that climate change has impacted trees on campus. Mr. Purington commented, “Winters are warmer, the summers are hotter [and] longer, and we are taking down several large and medium-sized maple trees every year because they reach the point of too much dead wood.” Not only did Mr. Purington display the hardships of Maple Tree upkeep, but he also highlighted how it affects the Academy’sAcademy’s beloved Williams Farm Sugarhouse.
The tree history map, which outlines the history of numerous trees on the Deerfield campus, was confirmed to be simply a rumor. Mrs. Perry dismissed the map’s existence: “It is very difficult; you can plant a tree that is completely healthy and does everything right, and you don’t know that it is going to succeed in that spot.” Furthermore, a map of tree history would be very hard to keep year after year because of how much the landscape is changing.
The trees around Deerfield’s campus remain staples of the Academy’s historical culture. Mr. Purington feels that trees are important as “throughout the history of the school, there have always been a lot of trees on campus, and most of the trees in the oldest photos have died, but what we have out here today is a campus rich with trees of all shapes and sizes.”
Throughout Deerfield Academy’s history, trees remain a staple of the historical culture. The Plant Administration is doing all it can to keep the tradition and upkeep of trees that impact “how they make you feel when you are walking around campus.”