Seagrove Market Trees Coming Down Today?

[ShallowsNole]

I can only echo all of your statements; those trees 'were' truly amazing - could they have been moved?! For the owners: I hope the Viridian is wildly successful.

I don't know what to think about the Viridian. If we had to lose the trees, and eventually the market too, I guess I should hope it was not for naught. But in my gut I hope they lose every dime they ever had, have now, or will ever have. Not very Christian-like, I know and I will pray that I can adjust to this.

What would the McGee family think...

 

[TreeFrog]

50 years old is a perilous time for buildings - and with them their site, including trees. Our sense of things doesn't usually think of them as "historic" yet, and they may indeed be run down.

It usually takes at least one fairly dramatic demolition to get people thinking seriously about historic preservation. My old neighborhood in Memphis became a national historic district in 1984, AFTER 200 houses were flattened in 1968 (at 50 years old!) for a disputed freeway project that was subsequently stopped in the US Supreme Court.

It's quite possible to champion preservation AND encourage sensitive development. My old neighborhood in Memphis now features 200 NEW houses, designed to look like they were built in 1920. There were design standards put into place to make this happen, of course. And they included a prohibition on removing existing trees over a certain diameter. Google "Evergreen Historic District Memphis". There's even a wikipedia entry...

Old Seagrove is historic now, and will be more so in the future. It's not too late to protect what's left.

PS, anyone who complains about design standards inhibiting commercial success would be ignoring Seaside, Rosemary, Watercolor, and Alys. Sorry, that boat don't float...

 

[TreeFrog]

and on a simpler and more practical note, does anyone know if you can successfully transplant those oaks? I've got my eye on a couple of particularly gnarled ones on lots that I expect will eventually get developed. Would sure like to have them at Casa TreeFrog.

 

[GoodWitch58]

South Walton does/did have a historical society. Remember the Coastal Heritage Foundation? Unfortunately, virtually all of the folks who started it are now history themselves, and only a few people care anymore. What is left of it lives on, on display at the Coastal Branch Library.

I don't remember. Maybe that was before I moved back? I do know the display in the Library...my grandson loves to hear about the "boat"...it would be nice to revive some interest in the history, before allof us who remember it, are history.

 

[GoodWitch58]

and on a simpler and more practical note, does anyone know if you can successfully transplant those oaks? I've got my eye on a couple of particularly gnarled ones on lots that I expect will eventually get developed. Would sure like to have them at Casa TreeFrog.

I agree with you, it is certainly possible to build around historic neighborhoods and incorporate the new with the old, it's done all the time. and many places have tree ordinances to save trees, especially old ones...it's just a matter of choice.

I tried to transplant one of those sand oaks away from the beach, and that did not work. The tree expert I spoke to about it, said they would transplant, but only do well in the same kind of soil. So, if it's the sandy soil down here, they should transplant fine.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I don't know what to think about the Viridian. If we had to lose the trees, and eventually the market too, I guess I should hope it was not for naught. But in my gut I hope they lose every dime they ever had, have now, or will ever have. Not very Christian-like, I know and I will pray that I can adjust to this.

What would the McGee family think...

I understand how you feel--

 

[sisters4]

Is my memory wrong or did the Hotel Viridian development get going a few years ago and then stop? Now it is up and running again? Someone told me that the Seagrove Market was going to relocate at some point. The developers should run an ad somewhere saying "free old trees to good home" and I bet people would flock there. If you think about it there aren't any "hotels on 30A" if you don't count the Watercolor Inn. All of this makes me think about Hotel Saba.

 

[AndrewG]

Transplanting a mature tree probably costs a fortune.

 

[sisters4]

Andrew G is probably right but there is no harm in trying.

 

[TreeFrog]

Transplanting a mature tree probably costs a fortune.

Maybe so, but there's no way in my lifetime I could plant a sapling and get one of those wonderfully gnarled trees in my yard before I croak, unless I live to about 150.