Skip to main content

NY State Champion American Smoketree at DeJoux House?

Still a little investigation to be done but I think the beautiful, fall foliage tree in the front of our house might actually be one of the oldest and biggest of it's kind in New York State.  

Today, I was chatting with our tree guy, Ryan, who was helping clear some brush and trim our massive weeping willow.  He told me we should be very careful of the tree on the south side of the house as it was an American Smoketree, but one of the biggest he had ever seen.   Readers of the blog will have seen some of the amazing fall foliage of this tree in the photo out of the bedroom window the first night we stayed at the house.


In looking back at my photos there are not many photos of this tree.  You can see it here to the right.

Winter 2011
Summer 2010 
Canopy of this tree can be seen to the left of the house
Height of the tree is definitely taller than the house
So, anyway, I didn't think too much of it until I got home and thought I would take a look to see if I could find out more.  Turns out the National Champion Tree of it's kind is only a little bigger than our tree.  Standing about 42ft tall and with a trunk circumference of 102 inches.  (Haven't measured the trunk of ours but if the house is 28ft, it certainly looks like it might be 40ft tall).   So then I thought I would take a look at the New York State Champion Tree list at the Big Tree Register at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The NY state champion tree listed for Smoketree is : 11 inches trunk circumference (at 4.5ft from ground) and only 20ft tall.   Tiny in comparison to our tree.   I'm sending Daniel out with a measuring stick and a tape measure tomorrow.  We have to know if this truly is a unique and special tree.

You can read more about the American Smoketree in this pdf document or search American Smoketree or scientific name Cotinus Obovatus.


Post Script:

Daniel went out with the tape measure -  the tree is 82 inches in circumference.  Spread is 25 -35 feet and the height seems well over 35 ft (as the house is approximately 28ft).    Here are some more photos:

October color





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paradox farm

If you wander along Springtown Road, past DeJoux House, you will see our mailbox opposite the front door.  It's not especially distinguishable except it is rather large and sits on an old tree stump.  It's a rusty old thing but it seems to have survived the snow plows and drunk drivers of Springtown Road. It has always bothered me that on the side of the mail box you can see the vague outline of the words "Paradox Farm" which was clearly a name that DeJoux House was more recently referred to.  Occasionally when wondering the fields I would stumble across some incongruity and wonder if that was indeed the "paradox" that the farm was named after. Yesterday morning, for some unknown reason, I decided it was time to resolve the paradox.  I sent a quick email to the previous owner June Finer to see if she knew anything of the Paradox Farm ghost on the side of the mailbox. This was her reply: once upon a time we, (myself and russell gilmore---my ex), met a...
3 comments
Read more

DeJoux House to be published

Reclaimed Doorway  Our house has been watched over the years by a couple, Susan Daley and Steve Gross who create amazing books of old houses and Hudson Valley (each name below is a link to Amazon).  They knew the house and had been watching our progress. As we came close to finishing they reached out and asked if they could photograph the house for a book of cottages: Catskill Country Style Book , Old Houses , Farm House Revival , Homes With A Past , Gardens of Hudson Valley , Time Wearing Out Memory ...to name but a few. All of these books are beautifully produced. I can't wait to see our home in one of them later in 2015/16. I won't reveal all of the amazing photographs that have been taken of our house, you'll have to buy the book to see them all....but here is a little taster. Summer patio Kitchen Stools Front Door Open
Post a Comment
Read more

A long silence broken

It has been over 18 months since I posted an entry on the DeJoux House blog.  Why? I'm not sure. The renovations were held up for a while as we enjoyed a working, if unfinished house. Looking back there was frankly very little news of note. Lots of socializing. Lots of enjoying the bounty of the land. Lots of swimming in the pond and Ice Skating...but you'd seen all of that in the old posts. Today, I am inspired to write a post because I have uncovered some news about the history of the house.  Since we bought the house we have always been told that the house was built in 1740.  That's what the town of New Paltz have in their records. That's what the previous owners told us and well, we had little reason to disbelieve it. However, we have very little proof of when the building of DeJoux House started. This puzzle was further heightened when a gentleman from North Carolina contacted us with the following request. Mr. Flebut - I am a professor at the University of N...
3 comments
Read more