Requiem for a tree

The end is near for Scarborough’s Elsa the Elm 

She’s may be the oldest resident of Scarborough, and she doesn’t even have a Boston Post Cane.

What “Elsa the Elm,” the Grand Old Lady of Oak Hill, does have is a plan for one heck of a funeral, at least if town officials have their way.

Elsa – or, Elsie, if you prefer, citations vary – is by most accounts at least 190 years old. The tree has been through a lot in her time. Reported lighting strikes, two rounds of Dutch elm disease that claimed almost all of the elms that once lined Route 1, and who knows how many cubic feet of carbon dioxide from passing vehicles. 

But still she stands, long after the Dr. Wentworth homestead she was planted to protect has gone the way of all things.  She is the sentry of Oak Hill, on Route 1 in Scarborough, now holding court between the Irving gas station and Bangor Savings Bank.

As befits a lady of her years, Elsa is registered on a national list of historic elm trees. The plaque at her base reads, "This tree is hereby designated a historic landmark to be honored and preserved for future generations."

But the future may be now for Elsa.

“She’s been cared for through the years, and nursed along, but I think she’s approaching the end of her life,” said Town Manager Tom Hall, at the June 1 Town Council meeting.

“At one time, there where great big elms lining both sides of the road, but most all got taken by the Dutch elm disease, said Judy Roy, chairwoman of the Town Council. “But still, you’d come around that corner at Oak Hill and, bang, there’d she be.”

“It’s definitely a landmark,” agrees Rodney Laughton, past president of the Scarborough Historical Society. “People see it because it’s right at the Oak Hill intersection, and because there are so few of the old elms that survived.”  

Elsa has had many lovers over the years. She was slated for harvest back in the early ‘90s, but got a stay of execution when a group led by resident Bill Stroud tied a yellow ribbon around her and rallied citizens to get her on life support.

No one seems certain if Elsa got her name then, before, or maybe after.

“I don’t recall that it was ever referred to by any particular name up until the town’s 350^th anniversary,” said Laughton. “That’s the first time I saw the name, in the 350 book.”

That book, published in 2007, has a full-page poem to Elsa, written by Daniel H. Presby.

“Humbled but strong, I hold up the sky,” it reads, in part.

However, as Elsa deteriorates, fears mount that she may finally falter in her efforts to heft the horizon.

“We might get some people saying don’t take it down,” said Roy. “But it’s getting to the point where you really don’t want it falling into the street, and maybe killing some people, either.”

For that reason, Councilor Carol Rancourt suggested that a funeral be held for Elsa, similar to the ceremonies held before Yarmouth’s famous elm, “Herbie,” when it came down last year.

“It should be celebrated instead of having our crews pick it up off of Route 1 some night, when it blows over in a storm,” said Hall.

“They’ve done everything they could to bring her along, but I think Elsa’s reached the end of her life,” said Roy.

If there is community interest, a felling ceremony could be held as early as this fall, with wood donated to area nonprofits and service groups

“It would be a wonderful opportunity for nonprofits to generate revenue with items made from the tree,” said Laughton.

All that remains is to gauge community interest in Elsa’s wake.

“We’re interested in hearing from folks in the community as to whether they’d like to be involved in that effort,” said Hall.