By Danny Burbage
Sidewalks are the most democratic of public spaces. They are where we walk with our families, hail our friends and conduct commerce with fellow citizens. Sidewalks are, simultaneously, traffic corridors, marketplaces and public forums. As such, we want them to be safe, functional and accommodating. And just like a community’s public buildings, its thoroughfares can also be beautiful, healthy and represent the ideals and character of its populous. For those reasons and more, trees have defined and canopied America’s passageways since the nation’s earliest days.
For 35 years, as a municipal arborist, I learned about and thought about street trees. How important to the community are they really? What trees should we plant? Where do we plant them? How do we pay for them and how do we convince our citizens to appreciate and invest, both philosophically and financially, in the success of these public trees? South Carolinians have been asking and answering those questions since the state became a state.
I hope Acorn readers will not think me rude or lazy for introducing a subject and allowing another writer to deliver the bulk of today’s “On the Stump” message. The author speaks more accurately and authoritatively about our street tree story than I ever could. Dr. Nic Butler authors an informative and popular blog and podcast for the Charleston County Public Library called Charleston Time Machine. Dr. Butler celebrated South Carolina’s 2020 Arbor Day by publishing two incredibly enlightening articles on the history of street trees in Charleston. Although the articles focus on Charleston street trees between the American Revolution and shortly after the Civil War, the circumstances, Nic Butler contends, might have occurred in any town in our state. If you have an interest in the history of community forestry in South Carolina, as well as some early environmental thoughts associated with it, click on the two links below and punch your ticket to a tour of trees and time.
https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/street-trees-early-charleston-fountains-air-and-shade
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