We’ve had some strong storms come through Salisbury this year, especially on the night of July 11. This has caused one of the locust trees in the back yard to come down. It simply fell over, taking up the roots with it. Fortunately, it fell directly into the parking lot, away from the house and caused no damage, also missing the fence and the curator’s vehicle. It fell with such force, that it shook the entire house. We were lucky. Our Garden Chair and Horticulturist, David Scheid, estimated it was about 140 years old based on the rings. That is old, but not as old as the house. It would have been planted during the Victorian period of the Mansion, probably by the Waller family who owned the house from 1881-1945. In, fact there are no trees that are original to the property, as there probably were not many ornamental trees on the property. That was common during the Federal Period; yards and lawns, as we know them, are much more of a Victorian tradition. The City of Salisbury Field Operations Division came out the very next morning to assess the damage. They started immediately cleaning up and removing the fallen tree, so that mid afternoon there was no sign that a tree had ever actually been there (save the large hole left behind). We have already been asked if we are going to replace the tree and that decision will be made by the Garden Chair in conjunction with the Maryland Historical Trust. Since we are an easement property and our easement extends into the grounds, we have to make sure we follow the guidelines set forth under our easement. Thank you agin to the City of Salisbury for being so quick in your response and also thank you to Tom Stevenson for checking on the safety of our Curator almost right after the tree fell and to Mike Konipick for clearing out some of the debris to make it possible for the Curator to remove her vehicle in case of an emergency.