Herbie the Elm, courtesy of Flickr

Well, here’s a minor bummer. I lived in Yarmouth, Maine for like 7-8 years, and right around the corner from my house was the largest living Elm tree in the US. I used to jog by it almost daily when I exercised. It went by the name Herbie and it had a plaque at its base explaining how it was still around despite Dutch Elms disease. turns out that it finally lost the battle with the disease after a ~50 year fight, and the town is taking down the tree. There’s a piece about this on the Portland Press Herald site, plus more details and info on chotkes they’re going to make from the tree on the Yarmouth website

.