Gezicht op een iep naast een boerderij te North Andover before 1890

This vintage photograph by Henry Brooks depicts the Hubbard Elm, standing proudly beside a farmhouse in North Andover. Note the tree, a symbol deeply rooted in human consciousness across cultures. In ancient mythologies, the tree connects the earthly and the divine, its roots burrowing into the underworld while its branches reach for the heavens. From the Tree of Life in ancient Egypt to the Norse Yggdrasil, this motif recurs, embodying wisdom, growth, and interconnectedness. Consider its recurrence in Christian art as the cross, a symbol which conflates redemptive suffering with life. In our collective psyche, the tree resonates as a powerful force, a silent witness to the passage of time, linking us to ancestral memories and primal understandings. It is a symbol that continuously reinvents itself.