Heritage News of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio

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A view looking south of the trees in November of 2003, when they were intact.

More of the World War I memorial trees on the former Camp Sherman grounds are now gone. A group that was both the healthiest and the best looking stood along Pleasant Valley Road between its intersections with Moundsville Road and Sandusky Boulevard - at least they did until about a year ago when half of their crown was shorn off. Now they are completely gone.

They were cut down sometime before December 18th, probably by the state, since the land is part of the state prison farms. The upcoming construction of the partial interchange with US 35, involving an extension of Egypt Pike through the treeline, was probably the inspiration for this tree removal.

The trees in August of 2005, after they were sheared off on one side. A view looking north.

These memorial trees were planted by the hundreds along roads within the bounds of Chillicothe's WWI army training camp, Camp Sherman. As G. Richard Peck writes in The Rise and Fall of Camp Sherman, convalescing soldiers planted then in memory of men who lost their lives in the war.

	The trees in December of 2005, after they were cut down. A view looking north.

The trees used to line State Route 104, Moundsville (a.k.a Transformer) Road, and other remaining Camp Sherman roads. Now only three clusters remain. Those in the largest cluster, near Unioto Schools on Moundsville and Pleasant Valley roads are sickly and slowly being removed (a few were being cut up December 28th). A pitiable pair near the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and SR 104 lost two others in the last two years. A trio still stand behind the former CCI "Honor Dorm" off SR 104.

The trees are Silver Maples, which grow to be massive, but relatively short-lived and weak-wooded trees. They were a dramatic but poor choice for massive plantings, so I can understand why they have been gradually removed. But this recent loss along Pleasant Valley Road was needlessly premature.

Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, which I have worked with for the last three Veterans Day celebrations, wants to do something special for the upcoming 90th anniversary of Camp Sherman in 2007. One thing that could be done is a cooperative program to replace these memorial trees in a way that continues their dramatic presence - not with mixed-group plantings scattered along roadsides, but a single-species rank-and-file array. This would require some coordination and cooperation, involving the Ohio Department of Transportation, Ross County Engineer, Unioto Schools, and the state prisons and prison farms. But it can be done.

Not even the stumps remain along Pleasant Valley Road - they have been reduced to piles of sawdust.

Memorial trees currently along Moundsville Road between Unioto High School / Jr. High and the playing fields, looking west.

This is what State Route 104 in front of the Chillcothe Correctional Institution looked like back in January of 1989.

< HNews_WWITrees.html> v1.3 - 12/29/05, 12/24/05

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