Gift of John Howard Morse, 1939.16.6 © 2012 The Connecticut Historical Society.

A White Maple in the South Meadows, Hartford

PhotographerPhotographed by Frederick S. Brown 1822 - 1892

Date1885-1890

MediumPhotography; albumen print on paper on cardboard mount

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (image height x width): 21 1/2 x 19in. (54.6 x 48.3cm)
Sheet (height x width): 21 1/2 x 19in. (54.6 x 48.3cm)
Mount (height x width): 27 1/2 x 20in. (69.9 x 50.8cm)

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineGift of John Howard Morse

DescriptionA large double-trunked maple tree grows in the grassy verge between a paved sidewalk and a street. Rail fences line the road with grassy fields or lawns beyond. A gate is at the left. A gas street light is in the foreground. A utility pole is in the right background.

Object number1939.16.6

InscribedOn verso, upper left, in black ink, "539"; in pencil, "#260"; in black ink, "This is a white Maple tree locataed in the / South Meadows Hartford on the North front of the / Church of the Good Shepard [sic]. It is of peculiar formation / having a long trunk like base out of which grows the / two trees. The early settlers of Hartford marked their division lines in this meadow by planting trees as the / ordinary fence that would answer for other locatlities / would in these meadows be washed away by the heavy spring / freshet the covered the lots several feet deep. / The probabilities are that the original stalk of this tree / out of which grow the two trees shown in the picture was planted / to designate a line in the original distribution of the meadow land and which has produced many other trees like these how being sustained / from the remnant of the original tree." ; lower right, in pencil, accession number.

Subject Terms