St. Josephs 240-year-old Liberty Tree fell last year and was removed from Hyde Park, but a local woodturner has ensured that its legacy will live on.

The 80-foot tall bur oak was dedicated in 1976 to celebrate the nations bicentennial. It died last year, and was replaced by members of the local 4H club with a seedling that came from an offshoot of one of the last remaining original Liberty Trees in the country.

According to Director of Parks, Recreation & Civic Facilities Chuck Kempf, the wood from the tree was placed behind the park departments building to dry out in order to be used in the future.

Kempf said woodworker Bill Hinde contacted the parks department and was able to get his hands on some of the wood

We cut a few sections of the tree off that were manageable for him, he took him to his shop and hes been working on them no for the last couple of months, Kempf said.

Hinde turned the wood into three bowls, which he is calling Liberty Bowls and dedicated one of them to the city at the July 5 council meeting.

We would like to donate and dedicate this bowl to the mayor, to the City Council and to the citizens of St. Joe in recognition of this long-standing tree, Hinde said at the meeting as he removed the bowl from a sack.

Kempf was impressed with the bowl and expects it to be on display for the citizens to see.

He did great work, Kempf said. Its a very, very pretty piece of wood and Im assuming that the mayor will have some place to display that in his office or in City Hall somewhere.

Two other bowls were dedicated to the parks department. One will be on display at their offices and another will be on display at the Remington Nature Center.

Kempf said the remaining, usable wood from the Liberty Tree has been drying out behind the parks department since the tree fell.

Its finally at a point now that it is dry and its something that we can use, Kempf said.

He said the city has been looking into options for what they can do with the wood and have discussed making benches, ornaments and knick-knacks.

He said that only a small amount of the massive tree will be reusable.

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Liberty Tree lives own through craftsmnaship - News-Press Now