In the previous post (See: Croton Point – Cabins) I referred to a piece by Sarah Gibbs Underhill (a descendant of the original owners of “Interwasser”, a mansion, which once stood on Croton Point) in which she said: “The four yew trees are still standing, and have grown to heights of 60 to 100 feet. Since this species can live to be up to 1,000 years old, I have undertaken the task of tending to their health.”

As the photographs in this post show, the yew trees are, indeed, still there. A nearby plaque reads:

Historic Croton Yews. These four ENGLISH YEWS (taxus baccata) were planted by Dr. Richard Underhill in the mid 1800s when he lived here with his family. Their mansion stood nearby overlooking the Hudson River. The yews were purchased for thirty-seven and 1/2 cents each from a nursery in Flushing, NY. They are now on the New York State Historic Tree Register.

In the old days my country, the United Kingdom (although it wasn’t known as such at the time), was known for its use of the longbow (e.g. as at the Battle of Agincourt). Longbows were generally made from Yew trees.