APRIL 16, 2009 ISSUE
The Price of Progress
Highway 421 Widening Project Soon To Claim One of Boone’s Oldest Trees
Stacy Eggers, Jr. stands beside his oak tree in June 2008.
The remains of Eggers’ oak tree on Tuesday.
By the end of this week, Boone, a Tree City USA, will lose one of its oldest—and, arguably, most recognizable—trees when the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) takes a utility easement on property adjacent to 421 East King Street as part of the Highway 421 widening project. Even though the highway widening is taking place across the street, some of the property owned by Stacy Eggers, Jr. will be taken over by utility lines, including a portion that includes two maple trees, one pine tree and a large oak tree—one of the biggest and oldest in town, according to Eggers.
“Those trees mean a whole lot to me and my family, and they are part of the history of Boone,” said Eggers, who lives at 422 Tracy Circle, a property with a backyard that slopes down to King Street and contains the trees. “Right now, they make up the only green space from Perkinsville to the other side of downtown.”
Eggers has owned the property since 1948 and built a house there in the 1960s. The yard is a landmark for motorists coming into Boone from the east; it is green, well manicured and expansive, with four trees bordering the yard on the side closest to the intersection of Highway 421 and Highway 105. NCDOT plans call for the four trees to be cut down before work on the widening project is completed. NCDOT alerted Eggers that the oak tree will be cut down by the end of this week but did not provide a specific date or time.
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