KENSINGTON, Md. — It's been three months since the oldest tree in Montgomery County was cut down due to decay and rot. Now, the hardwood from the centuries-old Linden Oak is be preserved and recycled in a creative way.
Colin Vale, known as Carving Colin, is a professional chainsaw artist. He is taking on the dusty task of transforming the historic tree into a beautiful community bench. The tree was estimated to be more than 300 years old and once stood more than 90 feet tall. This means it was alive at least 10 years before George Washington was born and stood 20 feet taller than the current White House.
Vale explained his vision for the bench. He hopes his carving will give people an idea of just how old the Linden Oak is.
"First I got the bench out of the way. That's already carved. Boom. Then we're going to have an acorn on the left, as if representing the birth of this very oak tree that you're sitting on, with sprouts of oak leaves coming out and wrapping around the left half of the back side of the bench," he said. "Then on the right side will be an east coast North American bison, which went extinct partway through this tree's adolescence. That should give people a kind of crazy perspective on how old a 300-to-400-year-old tree can be."
The transformation project is made possible by the Maryland National Capitol Parks and Planning Commission, and Montgomery County Parks.
"At Montgomery Parks, we have an urban wood reuse program, where we remove trees that are dead on park land and we reuse them into other wood projects like lumber, mulch, compost," said Colter Burkes, a Senior Urban Forester for Montgomery Parks. "To me it's an honor to have this tree, which is thought to be over 300 years old, and instead of turning it into lumber that's used for everyday projects or compost or mulch, we're able to turn it into something that the community is able to see and interact with."
Neighbor John said he is excited to see a piece of nature and history preserved.
"I can personally remember when they were trying to save the tree from being cut down many years ago. It's nice to see that it can live on in our park system," he said.
The bench could be done as early as Thanksgiving.