| This poster and more could be yours!! Form a team and join the Hunt for Favorite Trees. Sign up at the Library. Saturday, August 5th 12:00 - 3:00 pm. Start and end at the Library. A Friend-Raiser for Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust. Please see the stories below written by the Chebeague students in Mrs. Westra's 3-5 class. |
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I am a massive apple tree and wonder why is my skin so rough? All the other trees make fun of me for it. I say, at least I have white flowers that smell good. I am the biggest apple tree on the island. I was born in 1917. I live on South Shore Road on Chebeague Island, Maine.
I lose my leaves in the winter. I say to the trees around me, I have a crew of people who take care of me so that I can stay healthy. I have lots of flowers that need water. One spring when I was getting my flowers, I noticed some strong wind. I shouted, “Ow”! Then I noticed one of my branches fell off. The birds and insects that live in me got scared and they flew away. In the fall, I have red apples growing on me. When the season starts to become winter, I lose my apples.
I love my home on Chebeague Island. I hear birds singing and the heavy machinery crushing rock on Hope Island. I look out at the boats in the bay and see a bright red barn on Hope Island.
I am a maple tree and I live on Cottage Road on Chebeague Island. I am big and my bark is very very rough. I’m about 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide. In the fall, my leaves turn red and orange and yellow and in the spring and summer my leaves turn green. Also in the winter my leaves die.
Many people look at me and think that I am the most amazing tree in the world. I am about 50 years old and I was chosen to be a special tree because of how big and beautiful I am. Only some animals climb on me but mostly birds do. Most people think I’m the best tree ever because when you see me, you always remember me. I love being a tree and I also love it when kids go by and wrap their small arms around me. Then they start to climb and when kids climb me, I feel great. No one has ever treated me badly and I have never been damaged in a storm. Nothing really grows on me except for leaves, but my leaves do change color throughout the seasons.
I don't have any more facts about myself, so now I will tell more about my life. Being a tree is very fun. I love when it is windy out and my branches shake and my leaves swish through the strong but nice wind. I also love it when kids visit me because it makes me feel special. My favorite thing to do is watch children play games because it looks fun and I love children. When people walk by me, I know they won't forget about me, because I stand out like having a glow stick in the dark. Glow sticks definitely stand out. I love living on the island and I love being a tree.
I’m a birch tree. I live in between Chebeague Island School and the Rec Center. I am very tall. My skin is white and has brown slits evenly spaced on one side. My leaves are small and bright green in the spring and an even brighter green in the summer. I have yellow leaves in the fall and no leaves in the winter. My leaves blow when the wind brushes thorough me. When my leaves are calm, I am often used as backgrounds for pictures of Chebeague Island school kids.
I don’t remember approximately when I was born but I do remember that I stood in 1955 and still I am standing in 2017. So, I’m smart. It is also known as birch. When we had a big storm, one of my limbs fell off but it just felt as if a piece of my green hair fell out.
The only thing that lives in me are bugs, no squirrels and that was a relief. Now I don’t have to support anything like bird nests or acorns. I can move freely. No one ever watered me though, but the rain kept me hydrated. The only kids that climb me are the little kids because the big ones know not to.
I wish the kids still played on me now, because all I do is just sit as still as a chair here where I watch the kids of Chebeague Island School play.
I was born in 1847 and I was raised by Stephen Orr. I have been hurt by storms and people have cut off some of my branches. My skin is rough and tough. And I have green leaves. They are ovals and rough. I am about 100 ft tall and 20 inches wide. I am almost 200 years old so I know a lot. I am known as the baptist tree. I am also used as shade for the people. Did I mention that I am one of the few chestnut trees on the island. I am one of the only living trees from the 1800s?
I live on Chebeague Island at the Higgins farm. I am one very noticeable tree. I am very rare on the coast of Maine. I bloom in May and I’m green all summer. All my chestnuts fall off my branches in fall. Every three years people make me look fabulous. I love my space and taking it. That is why my roots have grown under the porch steps. I also have to admit that I am a little greedy. I steal almost all of the nutrients from the garden and the soil. No animals like me and almost none have made a home in me.
THANK YOU FOR READING ABOUT THE BAPTIST TREE!
I am a silver poplar tree. You can find me on John Small Road. I was planted on Chebeague Island in 2007 by Judy Graves. I am ten years old. I get my branches pruned so the other branches can grow and my limbs don’t fall off. I am a tall tree and my branches are up high.
I go from being just a tree with no leaves in the winter and in the spring, I open my leaves and they become silver coins! I get the grass cut around my base. In the fall, my leaves are yellow but they fall off.
I lost a branch in a winter storm. I was screaming in pain AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got the broken part cut off. I give shade and birds like to sit on my branches. I am not a very good tree to climb.
Thanks for having me planted.
I am a white pine tree. I live on the Chebeague Island Golf Course. I am on the third hole bridge. I am one of the biggest trees on Chebeague and am very tall. I have very rough skin and it’s medium brown. I have a lot of grooves. I also have thousands of pine needles. They are long and dark green in color.
I haven’t changed much in 40 years. I am 80 years old. I was born in the year 1937. I have never been damaged by a storm but I’ve lost some arms. People can hardly see the top of me. Birds land on me all the time, and sometimes go to the bathroom on me. I don’t like it when they do. I have very rough skin and it’s brown. I also have thousands of pine needles. Nothing lives in me. This is why I am a special tree.
I have needle shaped leaves. I don’t lose many needles in the winter because pine trees don’t loose pine needles in winter. When my needles fall they turn orange.
I love living on the island. I always get to see people playing golf. And I see the ferry come and go everyday.
Hi. I am the Umbrella Tree. I am a red oak. I have grey, rough bark and lots of lichen covering me. I was nominated for the tree project because I have an interesting story. Now I will tell you my interesting story.
As Hurricane Gloria’s wind started to pick up, a man was walking down at the Hook (where I lived). He heard some type of screaming or whistling. He searched in the sky for planes and such, but nothing was in sight. He looked at me with confused eyes. He noticed it was me, screaming. The way the wind flew through my leaves made a piercing sound. But who knows, was it me making the sound, was I scared, or was it my leaves? Anyway, after the man got to safety, my whole tree top snapped and flew over to the beach nearby.
Some of me is still at the library. Some people think that there were other red oaks next to me and I was the only one that survived, but I will never tell. Lots of people spent a lot of money on me. Even tree doctors came to try to help me every year! I was 40 feet tall and had no branches except at the top, so no one could climb me. They called me the Umbrella Tree because the top of me looked a lot like an umbrella.
Now that you know my history, I can talk to you about my life now. When I fell I was 200 years old, but don’t tell, I have lost count. I sit at the library and watch people check out their books. I am a little disappointed no one has not even had a thought of making a book about me, they walk by me every day, how hard could it be?
At Night, Deb walks around the library and checks for anything or anybody. After that she locks up the library and heads home. Every night before bed I will read my article about myself that is above my head. Go ahead and read it in your free time!
Time for bed, Lights out!
I am an oak tree. I live down near Bennett’s Cove at Jackie Doughty’s house. I was born right there almost 150 years ago. My leaves are a very light shade of green in the summer and spring. Winter is not my prettiest season because all my leaves are gone. In the fall, all of my leaves turn the colors of red, orange and yellow.
The other day I found out that I am 12 feet around. I also found out that my branch span from the tip of one of my branches on one side to the tip on the other side is 105 feet long! On my body I have a lot of very deep grooves that climb up me. I am very tall. I am 70-75 feet tall. I have a lot of little bugs inside of me that tickle me all day long.
I love the winter because I get to watch children skating on the pond next to me. A long time ago, I had a swing on one of my branches. When Jackie was a kid she used to swing on me all the time. If you want to come under me when it is raining, I am like an umbrella, and if you sit under me, you will not feel a drop.
I love my home on Chebeague! I have the best view of Bennett’s Cove. I see boats passing by every day!
Hi, I am an oak tree. I live right on the lawn of a beautiful blue house. I have made shade for the people in the house for many years. And I got to watch their kids grow up. Alden and Olivia now are eight and have moved out of the house. But they visit and swing by once in a while but not that much, because they are always gone: I wish that I had legs and I could plant my roots at their house and see them again.
I have brown bark and I have very BIG roots. The birds use me as a hotel. They only stay for one little night. But that is ok with me. My branches sometimes fall off in big storms but they don't fall on the house that is next to me.
Hello! I am a ginormous oak. My nickname is the Fun Tree, but I’ve also been called The Fort by some young people. My home is in a big open field on the Hood’s property on Jenks Road. You would think I’ve been damaged over the 80 years I’ve been alive but I haven’t. I have an occasional bird pass by and sit in me for a while. I was planted by the Higgins family.
I am taken care of very well because the Hoods trim my branches. Even though they trim me, my branches are still very long and low. In the summer, children come and play on me. I have a swing, tire swing, buoy swing and a rope tied to me. Kids come and climb me but if they can’t climb up the rope by themselves, they aren’t allowed to climb. One time some girls played a game called human baseball and it tickled a lot. That’s how I got my nickname. I am obviously very fun to play in!
In the fall, my leaves turn very red and a little bit yellow. In late spring, my leaves turn deep, deep green. I am not very tall, but I am very bushy. My skin is dark brown and a little bit chunky and rough.
I love living on Chebeague Island. When the kids come and play on me, it is the most beautiful thing ever! I am very happy to be nominated for the Favorite Tree Project!
I am a silver maple tree. My owner was named Stephen Reid Capps. He planted me in 1914. He also planted my three brothers. For a long time my three brothers and I stood in a row. But one of my brothers died. I am taller than seven human kids. A human kid cannot put their arms around me because my trunk is gigantic. It measures 233 1/2” around. I was nominated for the Favorite Tree Project because I am very old, very large and very healthy. I am not seen by many people because I am at the end of a road.
I have many branches and thousands of green leaves. On a windy day, you will see the silvery bottom of my leaves. My leaf buds come out in the spring and my beautiful leaves stay green. In the fall, they turn yellow and in the winter, all my leaves fall off. I am bare and cold in the winter. My bark feels very sharp and rough and peels off in small pieces but it doesn’t hurt.
Sometimes, I see small squirrels running around my trunk. I love it when birds sing when they are flying through my branches. The birds that I mostly see are downy wood peckers, flickers, and the nuthatches. They are good friends and make me happy. Most of the humans who live near me move to the mainland during the winter. I feel so sad and lonely when they leave.
One day during a windy storm my branches got caught in the electric wires and all the lights went out. Some men untangled the wire and fixed the electricity. The lady who lives near me now trimmed some of my limbs. This made me feel lighter than I was before the trim.
Hello! My name is Copper. I am a copper beach tree. Did you know I am the biggest of my type in Maine? I live on Chebeague Island. Somebody dug me up out of the ground when I was a seedling. I was planted in 1901.
I am 116 years old right now. I always sit down waiting for someone to come by, but where I am on the island is kind of lonely. I always look through my red and green leaves.
My current owners (Ehrhardt and Grace Groothoff) always really wanted a seedling, but none of my seedlings ever grew. About nineteen years ago, I found out my owners were having a baby. They came out of their house to find something, but I didn’t know what. I wondered why they were going in the flower garden? It was full of ferns, where they found a seedling! Now they have a copper beech tree in their backyard.
Right now that little seedling is 19 feet tall. My owners like me because I am big. I am so big that you can’t climb me. The only animals that live in me are birds and squirrels. I give a lot of shade. My owners put a cable on my arm because it was leaning over their house. They also cut off one of my limbs because it was too big.
I love where I live and I can see the gleaming water of Casco Bay each day. I hear birds chirping and my owners talking. And that is the story of my life so far!
I am a triple red pine tree and I live in Parker's Woods on Chebeague Island. Turkeys sleep in my hairs. I grew up in a store till I was a kid. Then someone planted me in the ground. Now I am probably over a hundred years old. I have no branches at my feet but I have branches at my head. I have three heads. I like to shave my hair all off in the fall. Every piece of my hair comes in thirds.
I am an evergreen tree. My branches fall off every year until I die. In the summer, my hair grows back and it is as beautiful as ever. My skin is red and bumpy but elegant.
I was born around 1920 on South Road. My bark is rough and breaking. The saddest thing is that other catalpa trees are in and around Florida, so I have no other trees I can talk to. When I was born, there were no roads but as time went by here a road was built right next to me. Now nothing lives in me. In winter it’s freezing since my family is all really warm in Florida.
In summer and most of the spring, I have beautiful white and yellow flowers on me. I’m always so scared when big trucks go by. Sometimes, if they’re really big they scrape my branches and believe me, it hurts. Sometimes, they fall in the trucks! In the summer when people walk past me they often stop and sit for a while if they’re hot. A lot of people try to snatch my leaves, because they are about 3-7 inches long! Even though I get lonely, I still love Chebeague.
My name is the talking tree. I have rough bark. You are wondering why my bark is not pine bark. I also have a big slit in me right down the middle of me. When all the nice pre school teachers’ classes come to visit me, they make me talk. Then this amazing thing happened, I was nominated for the tree project! That made me feel like the president of the trees!
When I look around at the other trees I feel JEALOUS of them because they have branches and they have leaves that change color in the fall. I was planted a very long time ago, so I do not remember how old I am.
Today it is cloudy, super cloudy. Today is some day in March 2017. It starts to rain really hard and there is thunder and lightning all around me. Suddenly, there is a crack and the tree next to me starts to fall. Then it falls right on me and then there is no more me.
I am called the Ash Tree and I live at Poochie Ross’s house at John Small Road on Chebeague Island. I am nearing my 216th birthday, and I am one of the oldest trees on this island. I am also the biggest tree on the island. I am so big you need binoculars to look up to the top of me.
My leaves dance in the breeze. They are shaped like tear drops with jagged tips. Unlike any other tree, my leaves fall in the winter, not the fall. During storms I sometimes lose my arms and leaves. Sometimes birds land on me to rest or build nests. A raccoon lives somewere in my middle, not the top or halfway up, just the bottom.
Bev Ross used to swing in me every day. I am perfect for swinging on. I even produce lots of shade for the summer. I am still standing, unlike the Talking Tree or the Umbrella Tree, which have been cut down.
My bark is very jagged, like oak trees. I also bloom in late April. When I lose my leaves, they turn a bright yellow.
My bark is like little pieces of light brown and dark brown wood chips. I live on John Small Road where Sandra Birkett nominated me. My leaves are like long arrowheads and bright green. When the house was a story high, I was that height. When they made the house two stories high, I grew to that height.
I can barely see the ocean from where I am. A lot of people climb on me and sit on a really low branch that I have. I think I’m about 50 feet tall now. I don’t know the circumference (the distance around a circle) of my trunk because I have too many branches.
I have been with the same family for generations. I love when people play on me and sit and talk. It keeps me company.