Old Henry

An Old Friend Falls. . .

Old Henry with summer camp participants, 1999

For the past 26 years thousands of school children have marveled at Old Henry, a massive silver maple that has lived on Indian Creek's floodplain for a century and a half.

The tree touches deep emotions and people visit it in times of trouble and triumph. An anonymous person garlands Henry with boughs and seeds each winter and at least 67,000 students have unsuccessfully tried climbing its gnarly trunk.

On July 4, 1999 about a third of Henry crashed down during an intense thunderstorm. August 3, 2000 was a warm, calm day. With neither storm nor puff of wind Henry's largest stem thundered down, bringing a few smaller trees with it.

The Nature Center staff sadly checked Henry's remains. One large leaning limb threatened to instantly fall on someone. Our preference would have been to leave it alone and let nature fell the rest of our friend. Safety and prudence prevailed, and a Cedar Rapids Forestry crew brought the remainder of Henry to earth, where it remains awesome and beautiful in death. Nature will gradually return it to the nurturing soil that supported it for 150 years.

Please visit our fallen giant from time to time and enjoy nature's recycling handiwork!

Floodplains are nature's way of storing water during wet periods. Some of the Nature Center is in the Cedar River and Indian Creek floodplains. A great way to explore during floods is in a kayak or canoe.