Sherwood Forest in the County of Nottinghamshire lays claim to a world famous tree, The Major Oak. It may well have harbored Robin Hood and his merry men, or perhaps people like them. Admirers from all over the world visit the beloved English oak, drawn by the legend.  Two guests from the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve help describe why the tree is so special. One is Paul Cook, the Warden tasked with maintaining the woodland and the landscape. The other is the Sheriff of Nottingham, or, that is, Richard Townsley, a tour guide and local authority on Robin Hood. There’s an aura around this tree thanks to the legend, but the allure and lasting popularity of England's arboreal icon has become about so much more. GuestsPaul CookWardenSherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, RSPBRichard TownsleyTour Guide - Sheriff of NottinghamSherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, RSPBConsulting EditorDavid Still, IIReader Nigel Holmesnigelholmes.com(excerpts from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, edited by Jonathan Kelley, The Townsend Press, Inc.)Recorder MusiciansDavid BorKim WassRecorder Music"Light of love," Anonymous"When that I was and a little tiny boy," anonymous Shakespearean stage tune"When lo, by break of morning," Thomas Morley, 1595"It was a lover and his lass," Thomas Morley, 1600"Tres douce dame que j’aour," Guillaume de Machaut, 14th c."We Be Soldiers Three," Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609Special thanks to:Rob James, Sherwood ForestPhoto creditSherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, RSPBMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

There's a huge, spreading, 350 yr old plus white oak in McMinnville, Tennessee with a legend. It was known to the early pioneers, and it's now a state landmark tree. Listen to its story told by Warren County Historian Jimmy Haley, and former state urban forester Tom Simpson. Come along and discover the Birthing Tree through the eyes of a real pioneer family.GuestsJimmy HaleyHistorianWarren County, TNTom Simpsonformer East Tennessee Regional Urban Forester Department of Agriculture, Division of ForestryConsulting EditorDavid Still, IISpecial thanks to:Gene HydeCheryl Watson MingleElizabeth BentonDana Phillips SorrentinoKasey Krouse Josh AbramsMichelle SuttonPhoto creditNick KuhnMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

Gilgamesh, the Sumerian king of Uruk, threatens to cut down the sacred Cedar Forest and claim its wood for his people. First, he must kill the terrifying guardian of the forest, Humbaba. Can he do it? What will the gods think, and what will it mean for humanity? The story's message is central to John Perlin's republished book, A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization. Forests, and the wood they provide, have been crucial to human society since the beginning of recorded time, and now the fight against climate change. But what does history tell us about how we treat them? GuestJohn PerlinHistorian, author of A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of CivilizationPatagonia Booksjohn-perlin.comVoice DramatizationMartha Douglas-OsmundsonLinkedInConsulting EditorDavid Still, IISpecial Thanks to:My father, David Still, for his advice and interpretation of The Epic of GilgameshAll readings from the Epic of Gilgamesh translated by Andrew George.MusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

King James II of England threatened to revoke the precious Charter of Connecticut in 1687, and sent one of his men to retrieve it. That meant an end to the colony's limited democracy and independence.  But before it was exchanged during a key meeting, a hero slipped out of the room with it under his arm and hid it within the cavity of an old oak tree. That tree - the Charter Oak - is now a state icon. Get the full story here!Guest Co-Host and ResearcherJean ZimmermanArborist and authorjeanzimmerman.com"In the Hidden History of Connecticut's Charter Oak" (blog)GuestsRobert StormHonorary Governor General of the Society of Colonial Wars, ConnecticutSociety of Colonial Wars in ConnecticutJack HaleChair, Hartford Tree Advisory CommissionChristopher MartinConnecticut State ForesterCT State Forestry - Dept. of Energy and Environmental ProtectionAllan FennerConsulting ArboristRobb Barnard (Voice of Mark Twain)Head of Performing ArtsLincoln School, Providence, RIlincolnschool.orgConsulting EditorDavid Still, IIMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

Picture yourself in Harlem in New York City, and it’s the 1920’s. There’s a cultural awakening going on - there’s jazz and dance, theater and literature, big celebrities and lots of new talent looking for a break. And of course - because this is a show about trees - there's a tree that becomes a symbol of the Harlem Renaissance. It’s the Tree of Hope, and it was a good luck charm to black performers looking to make the big time. Garden historian and storyteller Abra Lee tells the story of this particular tree’s rise to fame, its demise, and its enduring legacy.GuestAbra LeeGarden Historian, Horticulturist, ArboristAuthor of the forthcoming book, Conquer the Soil: Black America and the Untold Story of Our Country's Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers (2025)conquerthesoil.comConsulting EditorDavid Still, IIMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

This a special episode of This Old Tree, the show that features heritage trees and the human stories behind them. This time, listeners tell their own tree stories! From Vermont to California to Hawaii, listen to what people have to say about the trees that inspire them.  GuestsTom MorraArborist and Owner, TF Morra Tree Caretfmorra.comKatie BreukersArborist and Host of Tangled Trees podcastStudent at University of New Brunswickanchor.fm/tangledtreesJean ZimmermanAuthor of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, articles, and a blogCertified arborist, currently consults with New York City on tree preservation jeanzimmerman.comAndy HillmanRetired Urban ForesterCity of Ithaca, NY and Davey Resource GroupThomas SpadeaPark Ranger and Host of My Favorite Trees podcastmftpodcast.comBear LevangieArborist and Co-Founder of Women's Tree Climbing Workshopwomenstreeclimbingworkshop.comWalt WarrinerConsulting Arboristwwca.zenfolio.comwarrinerassociates.comMike MainoRadio Show Host - WCRI, Barbershop Singer, Entertainerhttps://classical959.com/about/mike-mainoMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

Luna is a 200 ft tall redwood tree that towers on a ridge deep within a privately owned forest in northern California. You may remember Julia Butterfly Hill's remarkable 2-year "tree sit" in the 1990's that helped save the tree and shed light on the indiscriminate clearcutting of redwood forests. But after an agreement was reached to save the redwood and the national news media left, another crisis arose that threatened Luna's existence, introduced new heroes, and ushered in a new era of collaboration.GuestsStuart MoskowitzBoard Member and lead "Luna Covenant" monitor, Sanctuary Forestsanctuaryforest.orgDennis YniguezRegistered Consulting Arborist (ASCA), and a Board Certified Master Arborist (ISA). He received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.treedecisions.comTree Story ShortCarol KingsburyBooks About Luna and Redwood TreesCook, Diane, and Len Jenshel.   Wise Trees.  Abrams Books.  New York.  2017.Davis, Erik.  The Visionary State: A Journey Through California’s Spiritual Landscape. Chronicle Books.  San Francisco.  2007.Harris, David.  The Last Stand: The War Between Wall Street and Main Street Over California’s Ancient Redwoods.  Sierra Club Books.  San Francisco.  1996.Hill, Julia Butterfly.  One Makes The Difference.  Harper Collins. San Francisco. 2002Hill, Julia Butterfly.  The Legacy of Luna.  Harper Collins. San Francisco. 2000Hill, Niklas.  Julia räddar skogen.  Trinambai.  Stockholm. 2017.Kostecki-Shaw, Jenny Sue.  Luna and Me.  Holt. New York. 2015. Lyon, George Ella.  Voices of Justice: Poems about People Working for a Better World.  Holt. New York.  2020.Podcast ConsultantRobb BarnardSpecial thanks toScott Parsons, for suggesting this episode and introducing me to StuartMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

A big, old, thorny honeylocust tree on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago has a place within the history of modernist architecture and landscape design. How so? Professor and landscape architect Ron Henderson talks about the tree's relationship to Mies van der Rohe and his colleague Alfred Caldwell, and how the honeylocust became the feathery urban forest powerhouse it is today. GuestsRon HendersonProfessor and Director of Landscape Architecture, Illinois Institute of TechnologyFounding Principal, LIRIO Landscape Architecturelirio.workhttps://arch.iit.edu/study/mla/Richard PolanskyOwner, Hafs Road OrchardGenoa City, Wisconsinhafsroadorchard.comTree Story ShortTom BrennanPodcast ConsultantMartha Douglas-OsmundsonMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

The Survivor Tree is a well known tree planted at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City that was rescued from the rubble at the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attacks. It has become a stirring symbol of resilience and survival visited by millions of people.But few people remember there were six other trees rescued from the site and transplanted in early October of 2001. Host Doug Still was part of the City Parks Department team that found them along with his former boss Bram Gunther. Doug and Bram recount the day they visited Ground Zero, describe how these remarkable trees were saved, and discover what's become of them. GuestBram GuntherNative New Yorker; former Chief of Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources for New York City Parks; co-founding partner of Dirt Collective, a start-up focused on re-wilding.linkedin.com/in/bram-gunther-b8346522bPodcast ConsultantMartha Douglas-OsmundsonMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

Concord, Massachusetts, 1856. Four men cut down a huge, seemingly healthy American elm tree using block and tackle, and ropes drawn by a horse. The graceful tree towered above a house whose owners heard creaking during a storm - they felt unsafe and had it removed. The event would have been long forgotten, except one of America’s greatest writers and earliest environmentalists also lived in Concord - Henry David Thoreau. Supremely ticked-off, the removal of the stately elm inspired a flurry of journal writing by Thoreau that defined elms as symbols of virtue that looked to Concord’s past and the country’s future. Guest Thomas Campanella, Professor at Cornell University and author of Republic of Shade: New England and the American Elm, shares his work. It turns out, elm trees  helped define our young nation’s sense of itself.GuestThomas J. CampanellaProfessor of City and Regional PlanningCornell UniversityRepublic of Shade: New England and the American Elm, Yale University Press, 2003.Henry David Thoreau and the Yankee Elm,  Arnoldia, 2001.Other Sources:Thoreau and the Language of Trees,  Richard Higgins, Univ of California Press, 2017.Podcast ConsultantMartha Douglas-OsmundsonMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

Why did Thomas Edison plant a banyan tree sapling at his winter residence in 1926? You guessed it, there was an experiment involved. Native to India, it is now a massive, beloved tree at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Florida. While this isn’t an “escape from the lab” story, it is sort of a “took over the lab” story! Debbie Hughes, the Horticultural Director, explains what happened. Also, we dig into the mythology of fig trees - specifically “strangler” figs - and their critical ecological and cultural importance with rainforest ecologist and author Mike Shanahan.GuestsDebbie HughesHorticultural Director, Edison & Ford Winter Estateshttps://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/Mike ShanahanAuthor,  Gods, Wasps, and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Treeshttps://underthebanyan.blog/about/Tree Story ShortSashil SachdevaVadodara, IndiaPodcast ConsultantMartha Douglas-OsmundsonMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

The Betsey Williams Sycamore is the most famous tree in Rhode Island. Its huge girth and spreading branches have been photographed, climbed on, and loved by generations of visitors to historic Roger Williams Park in Providence. But its history touches on the legacy of Roger Williams, Rhode Island’s founder; introduces overlooked characters, some noble and some "shady," including a forgotten tree; and features a Williams family crisis (and divorce trial) that threatened the tree and future park.GuestsRenee GambaDirector of the Museum of Natural HistoryParks Dept., City of Providencehttp://providenceri.gov/museum/ http://https://www.providenceri.gov/parks-recreation/Ruth MacaulayHistory Dept., Lincoln School http://lincolnschool.orgSpecial thanks toAndrew Smith, The Rhode Island Supreme Court Judicial Record Center, http://https://www.courts.ri.gov/JudicialRecordsCenter/Pages/default.aspxRebecca Valentine, The Rhode Island Historical Society, http://rihs.orgReaders in order of appearance Ed Nardell, Martha Douglas-Osmundson, Andy Sabo, Margaret Sabo, Laura Maxwell, Robb BarnardPodcast ConsultantMartha Douglas-OsmundsonMusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about

Join host Doug Still - each show features heritage trees and the human stories behind them. Old trees are awe inspiring links to the past that fire our historical imagination. Each week, he’ll interview experts, historians, and regular folks to celebrate the myths and uncover the real tales. There’s also a segment called “Tree Story Shorts,” where listeners get a chance to submit and chat about the most meaningful tree in their lives. MusicDiccon Lee, www.deeleetree.comArtworkDahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/homeWebsitethisoldtree.showFollow onFacebook or Instagram We want to hear about the favorite tree in your life! To submit a 1-3 minute audio story for consideration for the "Tree Story Short” segment on This Old Tree, record the story on your phone’s voice memo app and email to:doug@thisoldtree.netThis episode was written in part at the What Cheer Writers Club, Providence, RIhttps://whatcheerclub.spaces.nexudus.com/about