© UnknownWestern Massachusetts lost tens of thousands of mature trees in the June 1 tornado.
The effects of the tornado will be felt for years to come, but one of its lasting legacies will be the loss of all the mature trees that once dotted the area's landscape.
Those beautiful trees that dotted places like Springfield's Court Square, and Wilbraham Mountain into Monson, took generations to mature, and just minutes to disappear.
"I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree," wrote American poet Joyce Kilmer almost 100 years ago. Chances are he was inspired by trees like the ones that now stand sideways and uprooted over many parts of the Pioneer Valley.
We love our trees. They provide beauty. They mark places in time. And they grow with us as we make our way through lives well lived.
In Springfield's Court Square, a Civil War soldier stands watch over what was once a pristine oasis. Ground that now resembles a weather-torn battlefield.
"Unprecedented. I've never seen any type of damage like this," said Ed Casey, lead Forester for the City of Springfield. "I watched the news reports, and I've seen the photos of it. You can't really understand what it is unless you were out there during the few days after the storm when the streets were still heavily blocked. And to get a grasp of what the damage actually was."
And one place that was hardest hit by the tornado was Springfield's Six Corners neighborhood.
The MacDuffie School, once dotted with century old oak trees and majestic Magnolias, was the first heavily wooded area touched by the storm.
A tiny Magnolia tree that stands outside one of the administration buildings is the only tree left that once stood as the symbol of the campus.
"It's part of our heritage," said Brenda Joslyn, an executive assistant at the MacDuffie School. "It's part of the beauty. It certainly gave the campus its perspective."
"As you can see, we now have a totally different perspective. We were never able to see the city because of this oasis. We can see all of the city now. It's just shocking."
And just down the hill from the MacDuffie campus lies the historic Springfield Cemetery.
Parts of the historic wrought iron fence that circled the graveyard were destroyed in the storm.
Century old trees dot the historic graveyard. Milton Clyde Long who died on the Titanic is buried there. Horace Smith from Smith and Wesson fame, and Milton Bradley all rest there.
James Mooney is the general manager of the Springfield Cemetery. "It could have been a lot worse," Mooney said. "If it had hit one of our buildings which are 100 years old. If it had knocked our Crematory out, or our Chapel. Our Chapel has Tiffany windows. That was spared."
"So we're not as bad off as some of the homes around our area. And some of the cities businesses in the area."
Casey said area residents will start to see tree removal begin shortly. A re-forestation plan is in the works that will hopefully start to repair the damage done by the tornado.
What we know for sure is that our neighborhoods will takes years, perhaps generations to return to the way they were before the tornado.
Trees mark places in the time. The loss of our trees will be a longtime reminder of the tornado that changed so much about our lives here in Western Massachusetts.
Trees are cut down everyday.
Plant another one.