For decades a large Tulip Poplar tree provide shade from the summer sun, shelter from the spring rains, and a gathering place to young people on their way to high school. This tree guarded the entrance James Monroe High School. The combination of the raveges of time and the need for a new building brought about it’s seemingly final demise. Fast forward to today—–the heart of the tree , having been slabed out all those years ago and kept safe—-recently met with it’s …new purpose. Now this tree provides a gathering place for family meals and conversations. It is 10 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 inches thick. The amazing character it developed over it’s many years revealed itself in the transformation from tree to treaured table. The irony of it all is that this table now lives on in a home that started it’s life as the Mathew Fontaine Maury School.