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Herbie (tree)

2010s individual tree deathsCumberland County, MaineIndividual elm treesIndividual trees in the United StatesLandmarks in Maine
Trees of Northern AmericaYarmouth, Maine
'Herbie', Yarmouth, Maine
'Herbie', Yarmouth, Maine

"Herbie" was an American elm tree located in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It stood by present-day East Main Street (State Route 88), at its intersection with Yankee Drive, for 217 years (from 1793 to January 19, 2010). At 110 feet in height, it was, between 1997 and the date of its felling, the oldest and largest of its kind in New England. The tree, which partially stood in the front yard of a private residence, also had a 20-foot circumference and (until mid-2008) a 93-foot crown spread. It was so-named when children witnessed some of its diseased limbs being sawn off. "What are you going to do to Herbie? Don't cut Herbie!" they cried, and the name stuck. A plaque on its trunk stated: On May 1, 1834, the town gave Herbie some company by planting rows of elm trees along East Elm Street. From 1957 onward, however, most of them succumbed to Dutch elm disease. As of 2003, only twenty of Yarmouth's original 739 elms had survived.After battling fifteen bouts of Dutch elm disease, in 2007, stripes appeared under the tree's bark, indicating a worsening condition. In August 2009, it was revealed that Herbie would be cut down on January 18 and 19, 2010, at a cost of $20,000. In October 2009, the plaque was removed from its trunk and replaced with a laminated version, and before the end of the year, "The Herbie Project" fund-raising campaign was set up to raise money to care for and plant other trees in the town. After the tree's demise, local woodworkers used its wood to make products to be auctioned off to raise money for the trust.A snowstorm during the night of January 17–18, 2010 postponed the removal. The tree was removed on January 19. A preliminary count of the tree's rings, done on site, revealed its age to be at least 212 years. On February 4, however, the official count showed it to be 217. The stump was removed over the weekend of May 29 and 30. A section of the trunk's base was on show at the 2010 Yarmouth Clam Festival. It is now on permanent display outside Yarmouth town hall, on Cleaves Street, a project of the local Eagle Scouts. Frank Knight, the town's former "tree warden", died at the age of 103 on May 14, 2012. Knight's casket was made, in secret, out of Herbie's wood. Succeeded by Deb Hopkins in 2006, Knight cared for the tree for half of his life, having accepted the role in 1956. Knight's efforts were recognized by the town: the athletic fields at North Yarmouth Academy bear his name, as does a forest behind the town's community garden; a tree in front of Yarmouth's town hall was planted in his honor; and, in 1983, he was the fourth recipient of the town's Latchstring Award.

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Herbie (tree)
Yankee Drive,

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Latitude Longitude
N 43.800573 ° E -70.176283 °
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Yankee Drive 14
04096
Maine, United States
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'Herbie', Yarmouth, Maine
'Herbie', Yarmouth, Maine
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51 East Main Street (Yarmouth, Maine)
51 East Main Street (Yarmouth, Maine)

51 East Main Street, also known as the William R. Stockbridge House, is a historic home in Yarmouth, Maine. It was built in 1810, on today's State Route 88, before Yarmouth's secession from North Yarmouth. Its original owner was merchant William Stockbridge.Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, stayed in the building prior to his death in 1834. The nearby section of Route 88 is named Lafayette Street in his honor.Stockbridge is believed to be the original 1848 owner of 35 East Main Street, just a few yards down the hill.After Stockbridge's death in 1850, the home changed hands several times. In the 1920s, Adaline Crockett converted it into the Royal River Inn. Crockett's Royal River Cabins were in operation between 1934 and 1950 on the ocean side of nearby Spring Street, at its split with East Main Street. The enterprise began as an inn in the property, and continued as its office until the 1940s. In 1946, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her entourage stayed in one of the cabins because the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland would not permit her dog, Fala, to stay in the hotel.The building retains its original Federal-style door surround, fanlight, windows, trim and siding.The rear of the property now overlooks Interstate 295, after it was built above Yarmouth's harbor in 1961.In front of the property there stood a milestone providing the distance to Boston. The preceding one, on Pleasant Street, gives a distance of 138 miles (222 km). The milestones are part of the Boston-to-Machias extension of the Charleston-to-Boston "King's Highway".

Royal River
Royal River

The Royal River is a small river, 39 miles (63 km) long, in southern Maine. The river originates in Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester and flows northeasterly into Auburn and then southerly through New Gloucester (via the Royal River Reservoir), Gray and North Yarmouth into Casco Bay at Yarmouth. The river is bridged by Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 202 before leaving New Gloucester, then by the Maine Central Railroad "Back Road" and the Grand Trunk Railway in Auburn, and then again by the Grand Trunk Railway and by State Route 231 when it returns to New Gloucester. The river is bridged twice more by the Maine Central Back Road in Gray. In North Yarmouth, the river is bridged again by State Route 231 and by State Route 9, and in Yarmouth it is crossed by the Maine Central Railroad "Lower Road", again by the Grand Trunk Railway, by U.S. Route 1 and, at its mouth, by State Route 88 (carried by the East Main Street Bridge) and, finally, Interstate 295. The Native Americans called the river Westcustogo River (meaning muddy) or Pumgustuck River (falls at mouth of river).During the 1700s and 1800s, Yarmouth River, as it was then known, was a source of great economic growth for Yarmouth as it provided the power for the many mills. One such mill was erected in 1872 by the Forest Paper Company on the current site of the Royal River Park. The river is mentioned in several of Maine-native Stephen King's novels, including The Body, when the boys cross the Royal River, only to be attacked by leeches, as well as 'Salem's Lot and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The McKin Company Superfund site was within the Royal River watershed.

Sparhawk Mill
Sparhawk Mill

Sparhawk Mill is a former cotton mill on Bridge Street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. Built in 1840 and made of brick, it is home today to The Garrison restaurant (owned by Christian Hayes) and several other businesses. It stands, just east of the town's Second Falls, on the site of several previous mill buildings, the earliest of which was a wooden mill dating to 1817. An early business based at the mill was North Yarmouth Manufacturing Company, which was founded in 1847 by Eleazer Burbank. The mill produced cotton yarn and cloth. In 1855, the top half of the mill was rebuilt after a fire, but also to accommodate the Royal River Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in 1857. It was one of the leading industries in Yarmouth, spinning coarse and fine yarn and seamless grain bags, of which it produced up to one thousand per day. The mill was under the management of H. J. Libby & Company (brothers Harrison, James and Francis Orville Libby) until Barnabas Freeman took over in 1869. Two years later, Freeman joined forces with Lorenzo L. Shaw to start up a cotton mill. After Freeman retired in 1888, Shaw ran the mill on his own until his death in 1907, during which time the mill's tower was completed.An iron bridge was in place in front the mill, on Bridge Street. around 1900, replacing an 1846 structure. Boarding houses, which still exist today at 107 and 109 Bridge Street, were built on the crest of the northern Bridge Street hill, providing accommodation for weavers, seamstresses and bobbin boys. In 1953, Yale Cordage, owned by Oliver Sherman Yale, occupied it. They remained tenants for the next 39 years, until 1992, when the decision was made to divide the mill's interior up into multiple business for extra revenue. The mill got its current name in the early 1950s, when Old Sparhawk Mills Company moved into the building from Cottage Road in South Portland. The building was previously own by Sparhawk Group, from which it got its name. Formerly headquartered in the mill, they have since moved to Portland, and have regional offices in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and in New York City. The mill's electric turbines still function, having been revitalized in 1986. Directly across the bridge from the mill's tower is 80 Bridge Street, which was built as the office for the above business in the early 1880s. Its architect was Francis H. Fassett. It stands on the site of the mill run by Massachusetts natives William Hawes and father-and-son duo Henry and George Cox.