Big Sycamore in Bethel, CT

ryandallas · Post by **ryandallas** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:56 pm

This afternoon, after attending Easter Service in Newtown, CT., the family went to see a large sycamore tree which grows in the nearby town of Bethel. The resulting measurements were very impressive. I got a circumference of 23'3" (or roughly 7'5" in diameter) and a height of 100' on a straight-up laser shot. While this tree is not as voluminous as the great Northeastern sycamores (it is definitely a single-stem tree, but it branches out quite low), its circumference is comparable. Photos will be posted soon!

--Ryan

P.S. To see the tree on Google Maps, type in "294 Greenwood Ave., Bethel, Ct".

Don · Post by **Don** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:20 pm

Ryan-
I'm such a fan of GoogleEarth that I immediately copied the address, and pasted it into my new Google Earth Pro sofware, and it's amazing what you can do with the car view module of GE...from my views, you're correct, it is a single stem. Nice sycamore!
-Don

ryandallas · Post by **ryandallas** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 10:53 am

Thank you, Don. I've posted a photo of the tree. As you can see, its large girth is due, in part, to the large branch that hangs over the street.

Larry Tucei · Post by **Larry Tucei** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 11:48 am

Hi Ryan- A very nice Sycamore- Live Oak size. Only a few species of trees reach 20' in Circumference in North American anymore and Sycamore is one of them- Congrats nice find! Larry

Don · Post by **Don** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 2:29 pm

Ryan-
It's about a wash on whether your sycamore is a single or a multi-...at least from the views I have seen, and my mentally delineating the pith lines. Nice tree, anyway!
-Don

bbeduhn · Post by **bbeduhn** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:35 am

Ryan,
I'm basing this on the photo you posted. It certainly looks to be a single pith. For a cbh, simply find the smallest portion of the trunk, which looks to be @ about 3' or so. When trees branch low we measure at the smallest point and note the height. I like to do both a 4.5' height cbh and the smallest and note both figures at their respective heights. That's a beautiful sycamore!
Brian

ryandallas · Post by **ryandallas** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:43 am

Larry, Don, and Brian,

Thank you for your kind comments. I believe that this sycamore has a single pith, and that it's the buttressing which makes it appear otherwise... I probably should have spent more time with the tree when I measured it, but the family was kind of in a hurry.

--Ryan

AndrewJoslin · Post by **AndrewJoslin** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:17 pm

Ha, I just ate at the Sycamore Drive-in/Diner next to the Bethel Sycamore last evening 2/27/17. Magnificent tree, root zone is mostly paved over, amazing how the tree survives. On a lark a couple of friends and I attempted to do a measuring climb on the tree in late winter 2016. We pulled up, set up traffic cones around it and acted all official ;-) We talked to the owner of the diner and he was very skeptical. Not a problem, we had a good meal and then found some nice sycamores nearby along the Housatonic River, climbed with permission by the owner of the land.

Here's a little video talking to locals in the diner about how the tree was saved by town residents chaining themselves to the tree when a state road project threatened it, then talked about the unique geology of the area and some Bethel history. Then hanging around in sycamores over the Housatonic River with some fun swings at the end. At the beginning of the video I have a photo and CBH of the tree, I got 23.3 as well:
https://vimeo.com/152316132

-AJ

Native Tree Society BBS

Big Sycamore in Bethel, CT

Big Sycamore in Bethel, CT

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