Yesterday I drove through Yarmouth, Maine, and stopped by the site where Herbie the New England Champion American Elm (Ulmus americana) had lived for over two hundred years before meeting his end this past January (see this post for the story). I wanted to see Herbie’s stump and get a better idea of what 217 years of tree age looked like in plan view.
It was hard to get a clear measure of the stump. It was cleanly cut across the root flare, and there were no signs of internal decay at the cut line, which indicates that no root damage — or none of the kind that travels up the trunk and compromises it — had affected the tree in its life.
This tree was big. A slice from the bottom of the butt, mounted on table-height legs, would be big enough to seat at least a dozen people quite comfortably, if a bit irregularly. The following photos show my attempts at comparative scale.
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From a distance, the spot where Herbie stood looks like a small paved dais in a big open space.
A pair of Felcos and a water bottle for scale, and still it's hard to fathom the stump's size.
Hmm. This yellow nursery caliper gauge, maxed out at 4 1/4", doesn't come close to an appropriate scale. The school bus in the background ran past before I could catch its image right in front of the stump, but it begins to suggest a comparison.
This angle doesn't help much either, though it certainly illustrates how Herbie dealt with grade change -- he just grew over it.
People walking by help with scale.
Eureka! The handy measuring tape, laid across the stump's widest part, gives at least some numeric sense of size.
Here's a crop from that last photo, showing the stump measuring at its widest point 9'-2". Herbie had plenty of root room, among other advantages, so he could grow to this size.
Deborah Howe
Taking Place In The Trees 
Someone needs to make some cool historical looking line art type drawing on that and then seal it . Really find a good pencil or charcoal artist and have them look at it
Interesting idea! The surface is so smooth and well-cut it’d be possible — though the evidence of just the rings and bark lobes is pretty compelling on its own, too.
Nice photos! A much cleaner cut than the large oak my aunt recently lost, and no decay! I like the idea of sealing it: coating it with something that would accentuate the rings, and make it a sculpture, perhaps with a little sign memorializing the tree. (in your spare time…)
Thanks for the comment, Cynthia. Herbie’s stump itself is worth going to see, just to witness its massive size. I like the idea of sealing it, too — but even that would be a temporary measure, as decay would start from the roots. About 20 years ago an old elm on a Cambridge street was taken down and the remaining trunk carved by a local artist into a throne. The artist sealed all the cut surfaces. Within a few years decay had moved into the piece, despite the sealing — without the active mechanisms of life (circulation, for instance, and growth regulation and compartmentalization) — the tree was fairly quickly returning to the earth. That in itself was an interesting process to watch…….
Hi Deborah,
Just wanted to tell you I discovered your blog this moring and find your tree advocacy commendable.
Keep up the good work and someday I will match your name with a real face to face in person.
Joe, thanks very much for your kind words. I had a delightful visit to your website (especially liked the articles about your educational tree plantings, and the quotes), and hope we have a chance to meet some time.
[…] June 21, 2010 by Deborah Howe Yesterday I swung by the site where Herbie, the American Elm in Yarmouth, Maine, had stood for over two centuries. Herbie was taken down last January; to read the tale see this post, and to see photos of Herbie’s stump, click on this link. […]