ONTARIO, N.Y. -- A sugar maple tree that stood well before America was even a country is scheduled to be cut down. Time and weather has taken a toll on the four centuries old plant.
For 400 years, the wind has rustled the leaves of the sugar maple tree in Ontario. It’s the largest and oldest tree of its kind in the Empire State, according to state officials, but as its inevitable fate, the tree is showing its age.
Last week, a second branch came crashing down.
"We never know when we are going to have another windstorm might come up," said Vera Graves, president of Heritage Square Park. "In fact, there wasn't a windstorm, it just fell."
It revealed to board members and directors of the Heritage Square Museum, the centuries-old tree is rotting from the inside out.
"I asked the board, 'What shall we do?'" Graves said.
Graves said the board decided it's time for the tree to go.
"Last year a big one came and narrowly missed the log cabin," Graves explained.
For a second time, the historic log cabin was spared and for a second time, Jay Scott's yard was hit, and cleanup is underway, again.
"We had a branch fall on my truck when it (the truck) was only about a year old," Jay Scott said.
Thanks to neighbors, the branch is now in pieces, and debris is being cleared away. Scott can only joke about the deja vu.
"Luckily it didn't fall on her when she (his wife) was backing up," Scott said. "Maybe she backed into it and knocked it down."
However, the branch did narrowly missed the well.
Despite the extra yard work now and in the future, Scott said he'll miss the beauty the tree had to offer.
"Ontario, the historical society and everything, that's the symbol," Scott said.
Graves said it will be a tough loss, but they'll make sure it's long standing history isn't forgotten.
"Probably leave a six-foot slab up there, so kids can see how big it was," Graves said. "It's something else.”
In 1996, the tree was measured at 76 feet in height with a spread of 79 feet.
It's scheduled to be removed sometime this week.