Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice Albany Township, Bradford County PA Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA

Photo: The 1942 Trees in New Albany Township: Albany Township, Bradford County PA Year: 1942  Photo from Bill Tri-County Genealogy & History Sites Home Page How to Use This Site Warning & Disclaimer Albany Township Page No Unauthorized Commercial Use Say Hello to Joyce

Joyce, When we were children, we always looked for the 1942 trees. That meant that we were really getting close to Grandpa and Grandma's in Sayre. In those days it was about a 7 hour trip from Maryland. Although they've been gone for a long time, it's still something we look for whenever we get up that way. This is what I copied at the Bradford Co Historical Society last year when we were in town. My brothers and I have made the trip 2 years in a row now.

    Doris Hugo, a collector of history from New Albany, letting us know that Leon Wilcox, an area farmer who owned the land at the time, and Vine Lee, a nearby resident, planted the trees in New Albany that read "1942." Mrs. Hugo notes that Boy Scouts did later keep the area trimmed so the numerals could be read. Mrs. Hugo notes that Wilcox and Lee marked the numerals out on an area about 200 feet long. She says they "dug individual holes for each little tree," and that Mrs. Wlicox grew the trees from "tiny scotch pine nursery stock she raised in her garden." Mrs. Hugo also relates that Mrs Annabelle Lee recalls taking her little boy to watch the planting. Mrs. Hugo adds that "the reason the trees don't show up much anymore is that they were planted in a gully." Mrs. Hugo says a "lone tree" that was above the 1942 grouping is also well-remembered by the area's older residents. "The lone tree was planted on the same hillside as the 1942. There was an American flag tied to it and it stood over New Albany for two years or more before wind blew it over. You can see it in some of the older pictures of the town.
 

   Another version being given for how the "1942" trees got planted north of New Albany. According to Janice VanScoten Nusbaum of Athens, "My father, the late Marshall J. VanScoten, who was vocational agriculture teacher at Athens High School from 1934 to 1962, and his 'ag' boys planted those trees. They were working on a forestry project at the time. There is also a stand of evergreens on the hillside between Milan and Ulster which they planted about the same time. I have had those two parcels pointed out to me since I was a child and heard the story of how they were planted."

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