We had a large white oak on the grounds of the historical society. It was documented in 1640. It finally fell over a year ago. I have a large maple out back that I should take a measurement on. It has to be from the early 1800's is my guess. It is slowly in decline with some broken branches and hollow spots.
I started to count rings on the stump there but it quickly became apparent that it was going to take quite a while, and I knew the saws weren't gonna stay off for long...like about 2 seconds after that pic was snapped!
Excellent reference yooperdave ...sure beats cutting them down and counting the rings. WAIT A MINUTE, did I just say that???
You ring guys might like this. Story is the mantle on my fireplace was the last Chestnut telephone pole taken down in Ct. I’ve tried several times to count the rings. Usually lose count around 180. That was some old slow growth tree.