Project Elm
Making Cape Ann GREEN again, one tree at a time.
Reserve Your Trees Now At This Link
Our 2022 plantings are complete—an additional 75 trees are in the ground all over Cape Ann! Thank you planting volunteers, donors and elm tree stewards! And a tremendous thank you to the Rockport Garden Club for their $2,000, 2022 Community Project Grant!
We are now taking orders for 2023 as we aim for 1000 Elm trees planted in 10 years—only 825 to go! Buy one or two for yourself, gift a tree or trees for someone else, or pay it forward and fund any number of trees to be planted across Cape Ann in 2023.
Thank you!
About the Project
Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts, like so many US communities, were once blessed by the presence of glorious, vase-like American Elm trees along most of their streets, lanes and avenues. The 80-100+ foot trees were planted on Cape Ann in the mid-1800s to grace our communities for future generations. Rockport’s Dock Square had an elm planted by Ebenezer Pool in 1859 alongside the town pump, and the top of Pigeon Hill had two side by side named Loring and Rebecca that could be seen for miles from sea and helped guide local fishermen home from their journeys for over a century. Just about every street had a dozen or more elms to shade the landscape and create a cathedral-like setting that now lingers only in the memories of older generations.
Tragically, in the mid-1930s, with the onset of Dutch Elm Disease, every elm tree was endangered, and millions were lost. By 1980, Cape Ann streets were nearly empty of these once towering, verdant icons.
In 2021, Project Elm was launched out of a desire to repopulate Cape Ann’s streets and byways with disease-resistant American Elm cultivars that, when planted street, road and laneside, would not only beautify our landscape but have a positive, local impact to help our world when climate change threatens so much.
With generous funding from Awesome Rockport and Awesome Gloucester, in just three weeks in 2021, 100 American Elms were planted all over Rockport and Gloucester by a dozen dedicated volunteers in a 100% grass roots effort to make a difference for our residents, visitors, and our earth.
Join us in this effort by planting an elm streetside on your property, or join the campaign to fund those who do. Thank you!
Good Morning Gloucester 