Dan McCole's watercolor “Tree of G”. Watercolor on canvas. 16 X 20 signed and ready to hang.
The TREE of G
South Boston has Castle Island, The Heights, L Street bathhouse, and the ‘Golden Stairs' … but perhaps the most beloved icon for Southie people was the ‘Tree of G' … an imposing piece of vegetation that stood on line with other trees on Day Boulevard at the foot of G Street overlooking Carson Beach.
For all the trees …in all the parks … and on the sidewalks of South Boston … the ‘Tree of G' was the number one … ‘King of the Hill' … ‘Top f the Heap'. And the others … the mighty oaks, the nutty chestnuts, the spreading willows … the bountiful pear trees … for all their beauty, their fruit, their splendor … they all were in second place.
It could be said that the tree was symbolic of the mystique of Southie itself, for it had captured the hearts of South Boston people from the moment ‘that renegade branch' sprung out … dove down defiantly … skimmed the ground, then rose and blossomed with a burst of abundant, colorful vegetation at its tip.
Five years ago a n'easter took this marvelous 100 year old tree down. It was struck by lightning. The bolt of supercharged Lightning literally blew the tree apart. There were splinters strewn around larger than a big man's leg. A lightning bolt can produce heat six times hotter that the surface of the sun and when it hits an object, such as a tree, everything inside (moisture and sap) heats up instantaneously and explodes. Now don't send on sale me letters. I'm no expert … but that what Wikipedia says.
Product code: The on sale Tree of G