Initial Tree

Growing up on Wheeler Road in Ashby was very different from what kids do today. There was limited television (3 channels, black and white, 19 inch and it was not available like today) and only a few organized teams or groups (cub scouts) for kids. We were responsible for entertaining ourselves. Into the fields and woods we would go. The Ekola's owned a big farmhouse with fields and woods. There were also fields and woods on my parent's property. There was also several small ponds in our neighborhood. Broadvines was a brook that was in the woods and it was a great place to play. I will talk about all of these things in other blogs. The spot that I would like to describe was the Initial Tree. In the woods below the Ekola's farm are some rock formations with very small cavelike areas. There is an outcrop of rocks with about a 40-50 foot drop. The kids would climb this area many times. There is a tree (Popular-Beech??) that had bark with a smooth surface. The kids had carved their names and initials into this tree since the 30's or 40's. I think Walter Ekola's initials were the oldest on the tree. Walter was the oldest kid from the neighborhood and was already grown up and married when I was very young. Each neighborhood kid would eventually be old enough to use their pocket knife to put their initials into the bark. There were no low branches on this tree and it had many initials over the years. I haven't been there for 40 years but I am willing to bet the tree is still there. I am sure you could find DH on this favorite neighborhood tree.