The Enterprise — Michael Koff

A century-old elm tree, three times as high as the 200-year-old house it shades in Knox, is set to come down. The distinctive vase-shaped trees used to provide leafy canopies over many American streets and in many yards. But, in the 1960s, Dutch elm, a fungal disease spread by bark-boring beetles, wiped out most of them. Ancient Romans had brought the elm to England — wrapping their grape vines around the sturdy trees; the elm came to America with European settlers. This elm tree is on the property of Frances Brezinski who is herself 91.