The Old Avery Oak Tree was a

white oak The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...

treehttps://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:1r66j353d Avery Oak 1923. that stood in Dedham,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

until it was knocked down in 1972. It had a circumference of over and stood on East Street near the Fairbanks House. It was named for Jonathan Avery, the owner of the tree, who had an estate that was bounded roughly by East Street, Mt. Vernon Street, Barrows Street, and Brookdale Avenue. The Avery family was one of the early settlers of Dedham, arriving in 1650. By the time the first settlers arrived in Dedham in 1635, the tree was already quite old. It was owned by the

Dedham Historical Society The Dedham Museum and Archive (formerly known as the Dedham Historical Society and Museum and the Dedham Historical Society), is an historical society dedicated to preserve and establish a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, ...

after being donated by J.W. Clark in 1886. Clark, who owned the house where the tree was located, also donated a square of land around it extending seven and a half feet from three sides of it, and to East Street on the fourth. The deed also allowed the roots and branches to grow over and under Clark's land. Today, wood from the tree is used in the chairman of the Board of Selectmen's and the

Town Meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

Moderator's gavel. Historical Society president Henry Hildreth also commissioned a chair to be built from the timber. The tree also lives on in the seal adopted by the Town in 1878, and that of the Dedham-Westwood Water District.

Storms

In the terrible winter of 1723, when the snow lay so thick over the landscape that the residents could not access their woodlot, another Avery chopped off the top of the tree to keep his family from freezing. By the 1790s, the Avery Oak’s gnarled and crooked branches spread more than 90 feet from a trunk five feet in diameter. Although over 450 other trees, on public land alone, were felled by the

New England Hurricane of 1938 The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The storm ...

, the Avery Oak survived. It was struck by lightning, however, and a limb at the top was knocked off. The tree lived until late July 1972, when a strong thunderstorm toppled it. Then-police chief Walter Carroll was driving down East Street when it toppled, and the tree very nearly struck his car. Hundreds of people gathered to see the fallen tree, and the police protected it while the Historical Society made plans for how to dispose of it. The tree was estimated to be over 450 years old.

USS Constitution

Samuel Nicholson Samuel Nicholson (1743 – December 28, 1811) was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy. Along with Shipbuilding, shipwright George Claghorn he oversaw the building of ( ...

, the first captain of the Constitution, was living in Dedham at the time the ship was being built. The Avery Oak at that time had limbs full of crooks and angles, which

Lord Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both n ...

called knee timber, and which was particularly required in ship building. Its massive trunk would also have yielded a good quantity of planking. Designer

Joshua Humphreys Joshua Humphreys (June 17, 1751 – January 12, 1838) was an American ship builder and naval architect. He was the constructor of the original six frigates of the United States Navy and is known as the "Father of the American Navy". Humphreys wa ...

specified white oak for the hull of the ''

USS Constitution USS ''Constitution'', also known as ''Old Ironsides'', is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized ...

''. Timber merchants from New Jersey to Maine scrambled to find old growth trees that had the straight trunks needed to cut long runs of plank, but also crooks and bends that could supply the hundreds of hanging, standing, and lodging knees needed to support deck beams. The ship builders, presumably Nicholson, made several offers to buy the tree, eventually rising to "the unheard of price of $70," but the owner would not sell. Local legend contends that it was Avery's wife who spared the tree.

References

{{Dedham History of Dedham, Massachusetts Parks in Dedham, Massachusetts Individual trees in Massachusetts