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Black Barn Maple on CBC News

CBC News ran a story on June 2nd about the initiative to try to save the “Black Barn Maple” in western Long Branch.

The Backstory

Phot of Black Barn Maple at rear of 95 James Street
Courtesy Robert Krbavac, CBC

The tree is located to the rear of the house at 95 James Street and is a Silver Maple reputedly 130 to 150 years old. The site where it is located is close to where the Eastwood family, who were instrumental in developing Long Branch as a village, had a black barn on their estate, hence its name.

The owner of the property originally applied to City Planning in May of 2018 to add a second story to the existing house and build a newer, larger home. At the time of application, the owners indicated the property was not subject to the Private Tree Bylaw, which protects trees 30 cm and greater in diameter.

The application was approved on September 20, 2019 by the Committee of Adjustment despite a August 21, 2018 memo from Urban Forestry advising there were two healthy mature trees on the property and recommending refusal of the application.

The Fallout

The approval was subsequently appealed by neighbours to the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB).

The CBC News story examines the controversy about residents’ efforts to try to retain the Silver Maple.

The LBNA sought to have the Black Barn Maple, given its age, Heritage Tree status that would ensure it could not be cut down. However, this would require the consent of the property owner, who of course refused. A letter from one of the applicant’s lawyers disputed the age and historic significance of the tree.

Counsel representing the applicant at TLAB argued that the tree was located in an area in which the owner had a right to be able to cut down the tree. Their argument was based on a concept that is not defined in pertinent legislation such as The Planning Act, The Official Plan or the Bylaws.

An ad hoc group of Long Branch residents banded together to try to raise awareness about the tree and the issues surrounding its proposed removal. They have created a website, lawn signs and letter-writing campaigns.

To see the story in the CBC’s website, click here.

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The Black Barn Maple of Eastwood.

If trees could talk (*experimental scientific data indicates that they do) our Black Barn Maple, located at the rear of 95 James Street, has witnessed the many trials and tribulations that only a local farm tree could.

When it was a natural sapling in the 1860s, James and Martha Eastwood purchased 200 ha (500 acres) of the Samuel Smith Tract running south of Lake Shore King’s Highway from Etobicoke Creek to about Thirty-First Street.

Included in the sale and just a few hundred meters north of the Black Barn Maple, stood the Colonel Samuel Smith Cabin. The property was vacated when Colonel Sam Smith died in 1826.

An aerial photograph of western Long Branch showing the Eastwood homestead and its Black Barn
Aerial view (Nov., 1949) looking east along Lake Shore Blvd West from near Long Branch Loop, Ontario Archives Acc 16215, ES1-814, Northway Gestalt Collection. The photo shows the Colonel Samuel Smith house at Forty First St. and Lake Shore Blvd. West, originally a log cabin built in 1797, to which extensions and siding were added over the years.

In 1833, the John Skirving Family arrived from Scotland and moved into the empty Colonel Smith Cabin. Only a year later, John Skirving succumbed to malaria. Sadly, the widowed Mrs. Skirving, her six daughters and one son were forced to abandon the cabin in 1834.

The last person to live in the Colonel Samuel Smith Cabin was the Eastwood’s grandson, Robert Christopherson, who was born there in 1880. Christopherson sold it to one of E. P. Taylor’s companies for a Dominion Store site in 1952.

With resources, vision and good ole Canadian pioneer tenacity, James Eastwood resurrected the Colonel Sam Smith Sawmill and forested the rich arboreal land of Oak, Maple and Ash.

The next phase was to seed the newly cleared land and husband an ambitious livestock of horses, chickens, pigs and cattle. The farm was later assumed by James’ son, Robert Eastwood. The Eastwood Park Hotel, was his former farmstead became famous for his Shorthorn Cattle receiving Gold medals at the Royal Winter Fair.

To adequately shelter the Eastwood Farms livestock, three barns were raised. The last and the largest, became a welcoming land mark from the Hamilton Highway. It was the Eastwood Black Barn which stood prominently for decades and well up to the early 1960s.

At that time our beloved Black Barn Silver Maple which was just growing south of the Long Branch Black Barn icon, was already 100 years old!

Photograph of the Black Barn Maple tree, located in behind 95 James Street
Photo 2 – View of The Black Barn Maple of Eastwood from 93 James Street. Estimated to be well over 100 years old, this beauty is healthy, vibrant, and full of wildlife. The view of this tree can be enjoyed from James, Forty First, Fortieth and Garden Place.

During the building boom of the 1920s, Eastwood started to sell off his lands for residential development but continued to raise his prized cattle for years later. Luckily, or maybe by fortuitous foresight, our Black Barn Maple was not felled for development but was allowed to mature to be one of Long Branch’s oldest remaining potential Heritage Trees.

With ‘intelligent planning’, the Black Barn Maple can safely remain a beacon of arboreal stewardship for years to come.

Bill Zufelt is a Director of the Long Branch Neighbourhood Association and
Chairs the Association’s History and Culture Committee

This article was originally published in The Etobicoke Lakeshore Press © Bill Wallace Zufelt 2019

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200 Year Old Red Oak our First Heritage Tree

Our first Heritage Tree, Big Red, is located near the cenotaph at Long Branch Avenue and Park Road

The History and Culture Committee of the LBNA is pleased to announce that the Great Northern Red Oak on the corner of Long Branch Ave.and Park Road, adjacent to the 1933 Cenotaph, has now been officially recognized by Forests Ontario as part of their 150 Heritage Tree Collection.

Standing tall and majestic overlooking historic Long Branch Park this Northern Red Oak has witnessed many decades of change from being part of a lush forest in the ideal setting for Toronto’s Muskoka South in 1884; two World Wars; to the incorporation in 1931 of the family friendly Long Branch Village; to the present world of lightning speed technology.  Through all these changes our 1st Heritage Tree has remained nestled in the cherished and envied community of Long Branch Toronto.

Interestingly in the 1818 Canadian timeline when our Oak was  just an acorn hatchling , George Brown one of the Fathers of Confederation and founder of The Globe and Mail was born.

What is a Heritage Tree?

Heritage Trees collect and tell the stories of Ontario’s diverse and unique trees and brings awareness to the social, cultural, historical and ecological value of trees. For a tree to qualify, Heritage Trees have to be associated with a historic person or event, or may be growing on land that is historically significant. Candidate Heritage Trees are also assessed for form, shape, beauty, age, colour, size, rarity, genetic constitution or other distinctive features and/or as a prominent community landmark, however its historical or cultural significance is of most importance.

Next year, in 2019, Long Branch will be recognizing its 135th Birthday so we are happy that ‘Big Red’ will be present for those celebrations and hopefully for decades more to come in the heart of Long Branch.

The official unveiling of the Heritage Tree plaque will be announced soon.  All will be welcome to attend.

Help us nominate more Long Branch Heritage Trees

We are looking for more Long Branch Heritage Tree candidates.   Our neighbourhood has a rich history and many 100 plus year old trees that we would like protected under the Forests Ontario Heritage designation not only for the residents who live here today but for the enjoyment of many generations to follow.

Email a photo, the location of the tree and what you know of it’s story to us at longbranchnato@gmail.com or provide details via Long Branch Heritage Tree Survey and we will review and get the nomination process started for all potential candidates.

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