Update Feb. 1
As scheduled, tree crews removed the nearly 300-year-old maple tree in front of the Millerton Road home of Barbara Bartram on Thursday, Feb. 1.
In August, 2023, the tree had been “tagged” by Eversource who had determined that it presented a hazard to nearby power lines. “I did my best,” said Barbara Bartram’s nephew, Peter, of his efforts to preserve the old tree.
SHARON — As a very young tree in 1739, a sturdy sugar maple saw the founding of Sharon that same year, and has stood ever since, shading the front of an historic local home.
Now approaching 300 years in age, the tree grows in front of 60 Millerton Road, the home of 94-year-old resident Barbara Bartram, but the state Department of Transportation (DOT) has indicated that the tree is slated for removal due to its proximity to power lines.
In a recent statement, Barbara Bartram’s nephew, Peter Bartram, indicated that two professional arborists have inspected the tree recently, finding no disease and anticipating that the tree could last for another 15 to 20 years, long enough to see the town’s tricentennial celebration. Bartram said that Sharon tree warden Jeffrey Perotti planned to assess the tree this week.
“I would like to have a reprieve but so far, DOT has not relented. The tree provides valuable shade for the house. We will miss it if they succeed in removing it. It is a part of Sharon history and our family history,” Bartram said in a statement Monday, Jan. 29.
“They (DOT) are scheduled to start removing it on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 8 a.m. I would prefer they merely trim off one dead branch at the very top and one that is growing near the house,” Bartram added, as a suggestion.
Bartram said that he installed a plexiglass shield in the fall of 2023 to waterproof and birdproof a major cavity, protecting the tree from further damage.
“The tree is old and requires care, which I have been doing since August,” Bartram said.
Leila Hawken
Crews removed the nearly 300-year-old maple tree on Millerton Road Thursday, Feb. 1.
The Haystack Book Festival, a program of the Norfolk Hub, brings renowned writers and thinkers to Norfolk for conversation. Celebrating its fifth season this fall, the festival will gather 18 writers for discussions at the Norfolk Library on Sept. 20 and Oct. 3 through 5.
Jerome A. Cohen, author of the memoir “Eastward, Westward: A Lifein Law.”Haystack Book Festival
For example, “Never Take the Rule of Law for Granted: China and the Dissident,” will be held Saturday, Sept. 20, at 4 p.m. at the Norfolk Library. It brings together Jerome A. Cohen, author of “Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law,” and Mark Clifford, author of “The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong King’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic” in dialogue with journalist Richard Hornik to discuss the rule of law and China.
The Council on Foreign Relations stated, “Few Americans have done more than Jerome A. Cohen to advance the rule of law in East Asia. He established the study of Chinese law in the United States. An advocate for human rights, Cohen has been a scholar, teacher, lawyer, and activist for sixty years.”
Cohen, a professor at New York University School of Law and director of its U.S.-Asia Law Institute, revealed his long view on China: “We are now witnessing another extreme in the pendulum’s swing toward repression. Xi Jinping is likely to outlive me but ‘no life lives forever.’ There will eventually be another profound reaction to the current totalitarian era.”
Mark Clifford, author of “The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic.”Haystack Book Festival
In “The Troublemaker,” Clifford chronicles Lai’s life from child refugee to pro-democracy billionaire to his current imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party. Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a Walter Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and holds a PhD in history from the University of Hong Kong. He was the former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post and The Standard (Hong Kong and Seoul).
Journalist Richard Hornik, adjunct senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu.Haystack Book Festival
Richard Hornik, adjunct senior fellow at the East-West Center, will moderate the discussion. Hornik is the former executive editor of AsiaWeek, news service director of Time magazine, and former Time bureau chief in Warsaw, Boston, Beijing and Hong Kong.
Betsy Lerner, author of “Shred Sisters,” is giving the 2025 Brendan Gill lecture at the Haystack Book Festival.Haystack Book Festival
The Brendan Gill Lecture is a highlight of the festival honoring longtime Norfolk resident Brendan Gill, who died in1997. Gill wrote for The New Yorker magazine for fifty years. Betsy Lerner, New York Times-recognized author of “Shred Sisters,” will deliver this year’s lecture on Friday, Oct. 3, at 6 p.m. at the Norfolk Library.
Visit haystackbookfestival.org to register. Admission is free.
