— March 2025 —

MICUM’S PERCH, March 2025 by Micum Davis, Council Member-at-Large

I felt it in Portsmouth. It was Monday, January 27th, 10:22 AM. It pierced through the noise of our job site. I thought someone was blasting ledge, but the rumbling went on and on for 6 or 8 seconds. Most everyone I spoke with said that they felt it, like their furnace exploded, or a car had crashed into their house. Having lived in New England nearly half a century, I know we have earthquakes, even felt one or two faintly, only to find out later what it actually was. Never have I heard so many people say they’d felt it, or with such dramatic reports.

Initially they said a 4.1 on the Richter scale, but was downgraded to 3.8. The Daily Voice news publication of Harrisburg, PA posted the quake was felt in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and upstate New York, and reports came in from 9 states, total.

The moment it struck, the lower 48 states in the US were approaching the end of the coldest January, on average, since 1988, according to Weather Underground, because of a surface air temperature anomaly caused by the “Greenland Block and another from western Canada into the eastern Pacific Ocean (that) forced cold air deep into the US and locked it into place.”

As an arborist who covets frozen ground in winter to get heavy equipment into normally squishy back yards, I’ve long paid keen attention to what’s required and what prevents this magic occurrence.

This widespread cold was accompanied by below average precipitation (snowfall) south of coastal Maine and southern New Hampshire, allowing soil to freeze deeper and further south than for many, many years. As of late January, it had been one of the driest January’s for precipitation, but the cold air temperatures froze water in lakes, ponds and soils far to the south, such that, according to Outdoor News online, Beechwood and Hills Creek Lakes, Pennsylvania reported ice between 7 and 12 inches thick and New Jersey anglers hooked fish from ponds and lakes. One of my contractor friends in Newfields, NH exposed 3 feet of frost in the ground during his uphill battle digging out a foundation hole, and Great Bay had frozen from the Smith Farm across to Weeks point in Greenland, something not seen for decades.

It’s my belief that this widespread layer of hard, frozen soil, created perfect conditions for shaking with a dramatic intensity, radiating widely across the frozen earth, and incredibly far away. It was felt much further to the west and the south than it was to the north and east where an increasingly deep snowpack was present. This layer of snow, with trillions of pockets of air, insulating the ground like igloos in the arctic. This kept the frost layer thin and the loose soils limited how far the waves could be felt. I believe this is why reports of the quake to the north and east petered out after 120 miles while they reached 400 miles southwest.

The US Geological Survey publishes a graph that shows varying Richter scale ratings, along with the intensity it is felt, and damage typical for quakes of varying strength along the scale. An earthquake of 2-3 corresponds to weak shaking and no damage, a 4 has light shaking and no damage. According to this graph, the moderate to strong shaking widely reported should correspond with an earthquake of 5 or 6, not the 3.8 that our little York Harbor earthquake riveted 9 states with.

I couldn’t find any reports of damage, despite how extensively it was felt. After three centuries overlooking the York River, our beloved McIntire Garrison, the state’s oldest verified dwelling has survived much worse. According to Watchers.news website referencing USGS data, a 1755 (M5.8) quake located offshore of Cape Anne, northeast of Boston, caused severe damage to the Boston Waterfront. The most recent damaging earthquake in New England was a (M5.6) in 1940 with its epicenter located in central NH.

— October 2024 —
by Micum Davis,
Madbury, NH

A recent visit to the McIntire Garrison on a rainy fall day showed signs of new management of the property. Three orange cones now block the opening of the upper driveway. I’m guessing that is to prevent the random visitor from entering there. For some reason the clay soil has never really supported vehicles the way you would hope and deep ruts often formed, especially during rainy spells like pretty much all of 2023. The lower driveway was open, so I pulled my little Prius right in without issue. 

Along the field’s edge and in the distance, the changing colors of fall are underway. Although many trees are still green and most are still holding their leaves, those which have struggled with leaf blights or drought stress have dropped early. Ash, crab apple, and horse chestnut are regular participants in this act, and that is the case with Micum this year. A handful of leaves were holding on with signs of the horse chestnut leaf blotch.  Other than this very common and usually non problematic.

When saying that trees “drop” their leaves, it is a quite literal act for many.  During the fall deciduous trees have what’s known as a leaf abscission zone where the stem of the leaf (petiole) attaches to the twig or branch.  This is a layer of cells that the tree actively dissolves through enzymatic activity in order to break the connection of the leaf from the tree to begin dormancy for winter. It is this act which leads to the breakdown of chlorophyll and the unmasking of other photosynthetic pigments present, like carotenoids and xanthophylls responsible for the oranges and yellows, and the protective pigment anthocyanin, which is responsible for the reds, violets, and blues. These pigments are more active in spring and fall when the sun’s rays are coming in from the sides more than above, but they ‘re overshadowed by the more dominant pigment chlorophyll, which must wither before the others are seen. So now you can explain why we have such brilliant autumns in New England!

— July 2024 —
by Micum Davis,
Madbury, NH

(Currently appearing in our MMCA Summer 2024 Newsletter, available on our “Newsletters” page.)

A recent visit to clean up the cemetery revealed that Micum (our lovely tree) is doing great, with a full and healthy canopy.

Perhaps you’ve heard the news–Micum has a new owner!

The Davis family has gifted the McIntire Garrison house to the Old York Historical Society!  They will steward the property in perpetuity with care and the best expertise we could hope for! The descendants of Micum McIntire will continue to have access to the property for gatherings and events with advance notice to OYHS.

For me, I’ve got to move many board feet of lumber I have stored in the Cider House (barn) and so begin the vacating of belongings from a property as the last in a line some 300 years long. I’ve been visiting the Major McIntire property across the river since I was a teenager on trips with Dad to cut brush on the field edge and cemetery.  For about 10 years I cut the grass at the Garrison, usually at the end of the day, when the light is magic and time stands still. I attended the Clan reunions and tours through the Garrison over the years, and of course, planted Micum, and addressed the large reunion crowd with some of my writing.

These stories of my many visits swirl in my mind along with stories of the different trees I have milled, and then tucked away inside the Cider House. Some of them were seedlings when Micum’s grandchildren worked the land there!  Our ancestors were breathing the actual oxygen released from these very same trees growing to the south and the west, which I had the honor of taking down all these years later.  Micum’s leaves and branches have pulled in carbon dioxide that we breathed out at the reunion two years ago when planted! Those of us present that day are all part of Micum’s branches and roots, in a small, but certain way. This is true, despite how small a proportion we know it to be.

It’s all about connections!

— Micum’s Perch —
Fall 2022
by Micum Davis

Bridging our Future with the Past – Dedication of the New Tree
(Originally appearing in our MMCA Fall 2022 Newsletter, available on our “Newsletters” page.)

Welcome everyone! My name is Micum Davis, son of Dan Davis and Susan Smith Davis, and grandson of Mary McIntire Davis of York, ME. As the local arborist in the family, my dad asked me to help plant a new tree to replace the horse chestnut that met its final demise this past year. It’s my honor to do so on this historic family site, on this historic occasion, the 100th meeting of the Micum McIntire Clan association. After removing the remainder of the old horse chestnut tree earlier this year, my dad and I did our best to count the rings to see when it may have been planted originally.
The tree had four individual trunks, several of which were quite rotted away, degraded from the various leader failures the tree had suffered over the years, so it was a bit difficult. But we were able to gauge that it was right around 80 years old. 1942, the same year dad was planted, er, um, I mean born, yeah born, right down in York Village. We have no idea who may have planted the tree, or if it was, perhaps a squirrel, hiding away nuts from another, older tree, which had grown some place nearby.

Does anybody here have any idea? Perhaps Dad’s parents Bubba and Gig would have known this story.
That old tree was certainly a fixture on this property, in the memory of those who knew this space anyway over the last 60 plus years. At one occasion, I was lucky enough to be here at sunset to
capture a gorgeous photo of the tree’s shadow across the Garrison, which I have brought with me for those who would like to see it. When deciding what tree to replant with we did a little research on
the horse chestnut. Originally the tree is native to the Balkan mixed forests of southeast Europe, including Ukraine. Interestingly, Ukraine used the leaf of the horse chestnut on their coat of arms for several decades and large horse chestnut trees can be found in the parks and streets of Kiev where they are prized for their shade and beauty throughout the seasons. It has been imported to the US for some time. The General Whipple horse chestnut was planted by the signer of the declaration of Independence, William Whipple and can be visited still at the Moffat Ladd house on Market Street Extension just above the Orr House restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. It’s a magnificent tree and if you have a chance to stop by while in town, you’ll be glad you took the time. After the Civil War, horse chestnuts were commonly planted on Remembrance Day, now Memorial Day, and the flowers symbolized fallen soldiers to be remembered. We have many native horse chestnuts in this country including the buckeye of Ohio whose nuts are sweeter and more edible. We certainly hope that this tree we plant today will grow into a large old tree that the next generation can sit under and bask in the shade pondering all of the days and nights and history the tree has seen. This time however, there will be a record of the tree planting, that you all here have been a part.