The Brooklin Cemetery contains many interesting sights, two of which are exceptional in the fall and have fascinating backgrounds.
First, the centerpiece of the Cemetery is the above Camperdown elm, one of the few Camperdowns in this country. Each Camperdown is a grafted cultivar that can be traced to a unique tree that reportedly still exists. As it loses leaves in the fall, its highly-articulated underlying architecture becomes more apparent.
The original tree was created in 1837 in Scotland by David Taylor, the head forester for the Earl of Camperdown. Taylor grafted an unusual-looking and apparent elm tree to a Wych elm to create the twisting new species. Each successor tree has to be started with a cutting that can be traced back to the original.
The second exceptional sight in the Brooklin Cemetery is the majestic oak tree below, now turning gold. Although oaks are not rare, this tree is a one-of-kind.
It was planted in 1977 as a spindly sapling by the renowned author E.B. (“call me Andy”) White to protect the new grave of his beloved wife, Katharine. She was a senior editor at The New Yorker and a trail-blazer for women executives and writers, among other accomplishments. In 1985, Andy was buried beside Katharine under the fast-growing oak:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 20, 2024.)