A
crew from Cambridge Landscaping Company came to West Somerville
Wednesday morning to cut down a gargantuan weeping willow tree that had
hung over the neighborhood for more than 100 years. Four hours later,
with the tree still standing tall, all they had was proof that
Somerville loves its trees.

"It was the classic civil
disobedience confrontation," said Julia Prange, who lives at the corner
of Thorndike and Howard streets, where the tree sits on private
property. "The guys with chainsaws were yelling, 'Don't you have jobs?'
and 15 of us were just standing under the tree, protecting it."

In
Somerville, the densest city in New England with only 12 percent open
space, signs of the earth's natural beauty are especially cherished. A
controversial condominium development was halted in February when Mayor
Joseph A. Curtatone refused to allow a city tree to be cut down to
allow for construction.

And in June, a group of neighbors on
Craigie Street organized to oppose another condo plan that put a
90-year-old elm tree in jeopardy.

The sight of nature's beauty
in urban Somerville made Deborah Henson-Conant stop in her tracks one
night years ago on Thorndike Street. "It took my breath away," she said
of the old weeping willow at the center of last week's dispute. "Here
was this tree in the middle of the city and it was clear that someone
was protecting it. It's beautiful in its own right but the fact that it
was in Somerville, such an unexpected place, made it absolutely
beautiful to me. For me, the tree represented not only beauty but also
community."

Henson-Conant, an acclaimed harpist, was so moved
that she wrote a song about the tree, "Belinda." The song includes
lyrics such as: "Belinda, Belinda — the most beautiful tree in
town/Belinda, lean your lovely limbs down on me."

When someone
in the neighborhood told Henson-Conant, that they called the tree
Bertha, she wrote another tribute, this one titled, "Birth 'A Bertha"
with lyrics that go like this,

"Oh the Birth a Bertha was a
long time back/Down in Davis by the railroad track/Bertha, Bertha,
baby, don't you know/Bertha, Bertha – I love you so."

Henson-Conant
said when she performed the song in other states and in Europe, fans
would ask where the real Belinda (or Bertha) was.. And neighborhood
preschoolers, she said, sing the songs when they pass by the tree. "A
lot of people have a lot invested in that tree," she said..

The
four-hour standoff last week featured "verbal punches and a lot of
emotion," said Ellie Botshon who lives in the neighborhood and was part
of the group that saved the tree. Protesters, however, understand that
the tree sits on private property and if it is a danger should come
down.

The problem, they said, was the lack of communication from Joe Benoit who owns the property the tree hangs over.

Benoit
said after a rainstorm a few years ago in which tree branches fell and
smashed cars parked below, he pruned the tree to keep neighbors safe.
But the idea backfired, he said, when the pruning caused the willow to
grow taller but not stronger.

So when he hired Cambridge
Landscaping to cut the tree down last week, he said he was surprised at
the loyalty some neighbors had to the willow.

"I understand it
though," he said. "It's sort of heartwarming that people care for it
and appreciate it. Had I realized [cutting the tree down] was going to
be such a shock to people, I would have tried to get more information
out."

Still, he said, the tree is coming down. And despite their
initial reaction, neighbors understand. "Thousands of people have an
attachment to this tree," Botshon said. "If it is dangerous, take it
down. But the community is going to miss it."

Before any
chainsaws are taken to Belinda, Henson-Conant is planning to send the
old tree off right: with song. Today at approximately 3 p.m., she will
be joined at the corner of Thorndike Street by an Arlington High School
choir group to sing her tributes and say goodbye.

"I'm really
happy that [the standoff] allowed people to know the tree is coming
down and those of us who love it will have the chance to pay our
respects," she said.