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The Hoel Chestnut
Sentinel tree in ‘The Overstory’
I’ve referenced the Hoel Chestnut in this series before, but not the work of art it inspires. At the book’s very beginning, its significance to the Hoel family convinced me within pages that I could love a novel about trees.
Planted by Jørgen Hoel in the mid-nineteenth century, it thrives and becomes a landmark. Years go by. The tree grows, as does Jørgen’s family. His eldest son, John, takes over the farm.
John “buys a Kodak №2 Brownie” and takes his first photo of the tree in the spring of 1903, the second one a month later, and proceeds to do so each month for the remainder of his life. The next four generations of Hoel sons continue the tradition.
Their collective efforts culminate in a flip book of one thousand photos, which captures the imagination of a boy named Nicholas Hoel.
