In an interview with C-SPAN last year for a show about Chester Arthur, Prof. Jim Underwood casually remarked that if the President were to stroll the campus
today he might even walk under some of the same trees that were here when he was
a student.
Turns out he was right.
Underwood remembered reading somewhere that Eliphalet Nott planted groves of
trees, and he got to wondering if the huge black walnuts in front of Sigma Phi
and Webster House were the originals.
Underwood shared his curiosity with Loren Rucinski and Tom Heisinger of
Facilities. They had the trees “cored” to count the annual growth
rings. And yes, the trees date back to the 1820's.
“I thought this was the greatest thing in the world, that Nott had done
this and that they're still here,” Underwood said. “There is very
little question that he planted them.”
And given the state of things in those days, it is entirely possible that
Nott, then a fairly young man, might have wielded the shovel himself.
Black walnuts have a life expectancy of about 200 years, Underwood said, so he and his wife, Jean, decided to make a gift to the College of some 60 new trees. The couple is to be recognized at a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 4:15
p.m. near Old Chapel. A reception will follow at Sigma Phi.
“We made the gift so that 100 years from now, we'll still have black walnut trees,” said Underwood.