The Chelmsford Library received an early Christmas gift this week.

Nick Arena, 2013 CHS grad gave us in 2 lovely handcrafted benches for the Children’s Room. Nick made these benches out of the wood of the old purple beech tree from the Chelmsford Common.

He said that since the tree was originally planted by school children, he wanted to bring the benches to the Library for the kids of Chelmsford to enjoy. Nick, currently a freshman at UMass Amherst studying civil engineering, said that he wanted to thank two of his teachers at the high school, Matt Bartos and Doug Greenfield, for the idea and the inspiration.

Here’s a photo of Nick with the benches – look for them in the Children’s Room the next time you’re in the library.

The workmanship and character of the wood is wonderful – you can even seen evidence of the disease that ultimately was the purple beech tree’s demise. These benches are a great way to keep the history of Chelmsford alive.
Thank You Nick!