The Stump at Ground Zero

In October 2001, workers clearing the wreckage at Ground Zero discovered a Callery pear tree buried beneath the rubble. It was barely alive — an eight-foot stump, its roots charred, its branches snapped down to nothing. By every reasonable measure, the tree was finished. But the New York City Parks Department refused to give up on it. They transported the shattered trunk to a Bronx nursery, planted it in rich soil, and waited.…