Every day for 40 years, John D. Sweetman sat beneath an old oak tree in his yard and waved to the cars driving by on Route 896.
He was “a working man,” his great-grandson Matthew Sweetman said; so when he retired from working on the farm that he bought in the 1940s, he wanted to sit outside, smoke his pipe and talk to people.
Pennsylvania-based artist Kathy Ruck was one of the many who traveled past the Sweetman farm on her way to work, and seeing John Sweetman beneath the tree became a part of her daily commute for almost a decade.
“It just made everybody’s day to see him there,” Ruck said.
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Even after John Sweetman died in 1990 and parts of the farm were sold and converted into luxury homes, the white oak lived on. And then, on June 7, it fell.
“I was in disbelief,” Matthew Sweetman said.
The tree – which Matthew Sweetman estimated to be over 300 years old – had always seemed “kind of invincible” to him. He said he was at the beach when his father, who lived next to the farm, called to tell him that the tree had “completely toppled over.” He thought his dad was exaggerating, but when he saw pictures of the fallen tree, he immediately rushed home.
There, he found the massive oak tree laying in the middle of the street, completely blocking traffic. It had taken down a few power lines with it, too. According to White Clay Creek State Park – which runs adjacent to Route 896 – the road was closed for over 24 hours. Nearby park entrances were also temporarily closed.
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Matthew Sweetman posted photos of Delaware Department of Transportation crews clearing the street on Facebook, writing that he was “completely horrified” to see what had happened. The tree was a “symbol of (his) family,” he said. He recalled celebrating countless birthdays, anniversaries and family reunions beneath its branches.
He was not the only one devastated by the news.
Hundreds of Delawareans flocked to the comments to share their own memories of the tree, and of John Sweetman waving to them from underneath it.
Ruck, while not a Newark resident, said that hearing that the tree fell down still felt “like losing an old friend.” Luckily, she had already done her part to memorialize it.
In 2007, after studying the tree “for a long time,” Ruck created a watercolor painting of it. She chose to depict it in the wintertime when all the leaves were gone, as she loved being able to see the “twisted and old and gnarly” branches. The painting quickly sold at an exhibition, and Ruck still sells scanned prints to this day.
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“I’m so glad that I captured (the tree) in a painting back when it was in all its glory,” she said. “That’s one way that it could live on.”
Matthew Sweetman is also doing his part to celebrate the legacy of the tree. He spent days hauling logs from it back to his father’s house, where he hopes to use them to build a piece of furniture and a walking stick – “something that (he) can have forever to remember the tree and (his) great-grandfather by.”
One local woman offered to create a picture frame out of the wood for him. Matthew Sweetman said he plans to use it to display a photo of his great-grandfather under the oak tree.
“It’s just so humbling knowing that so many people care about the tree,” Matthew Sweetman said. “And then to remembering my great-grandfather, especially over 30 years after his passing… It’s truly remarkable.”
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.
