Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Giants of NYC

There are several giants that have been designated the Great Trees of New York.  This one known as The Dinosaur is located at 163 Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue.



It’s hard to grasp what you’re seeing when you’re there.  You can’t see the whole thing at once.  The amount of shade it casts is huge produced by an immense canopy of leaves and a complex branch structure.   It is outside the scale of anything nearby, dwarfing everything, and yet it’s curiously invisible.

No one notices it.  It’s said that George Washington stood under this tree 240 years ago as the tides of Revolutionary War turned against his Continental forces.  It was a large mature tree even back then.

No one noticed this ancient giant or even glanced at it as I painted across the street.  No one asked why I was there.  No one stopped to consider how odd this tree is, in the middle of a residential Manhattan neighborhood.

1 comment:

  1. What a fantastic idea! I just love the whole idea of the series.

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