The Lure of the Old Elm

The house was nestled in the center of a charming picture of rural beauty and partially overshadowed by a magnificent elm, whose huge bole and domelike expanse of branches made it for many years the chief attraction of visitors to Mount Vernon.

The elm played a significant part in life at the Stevens House. It was under its lacy patterned shade that the family entertained their many visitors on warm days; children singing or playing in the tree house perched on its limbs or games of cards being played by adults under the shadow if it’s leaves. The tree was the chief attraction of visitors to Mount Vernon. Under this tree Mr. Stevens spent much of his leisure time in quiet contemplation, reviewing the long years of trial that had led up to his hope’s achievement, regarding the old tree as the crown that signalized the creation of the settlement of which he was Father.

High up in the low laying branches shading the house and grounds, perched on its sturdy limbs was a canopied summer house, with seats and table, reached by a flight of stairs. Here on summer evenings the family and their friends would frequently gather. There, too, the Vesper Quartette spent many hours, filling the summer nights with melody.