When: Saturday May 4, 2-3 pm
Where: Waterloo Public Library, 35 Albert Street, Waterloo
Walk Leaders: Sharon Woodley and Teresa Dwyer
Celebrate the REEP Tree of the Year winner, the Bur Oak beside Waterloo Public Library’s Main Branch. The tree was once part of Waterloo’s original civic centre. Its immediate neighbours included the city hall (now the site of the Marsland Centre building), firehall (Marsland parkinglot ), and farmer’s market (the current library), in addition to the still-standing Carnegie library building directly across Albert Street from it.
The oak outlasted the home of Peter and Mary [Zimmerman] Roos at 43 Albert St., which came down when the current library went up in the 1960s. Comparing old maps with modern aerial imagery, it appears that the tree was located on the Roos property. Town directories list Mary and Peter living there on Albert as early as 1900, suggesting a plausible minimum age for the library oak, considering its impressive size today.
Say“thank you” to this huge, beautiful tree which gives us many gifts: shade, clean fresh air, beauty, peace, calm, carbon storage, homes for insects, birds etc. with music, activities, wrapping the tree with a huge ribbon and refreshments.
