Overheard at a Wedding
In the northeastern part of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania there lies about 390 acres of old growth forest. A dispute or misunderstanding over cutting rights between two parties spared this swath of land from a clearcut. It was named the “Alan Seeger Natural Area” and contains hemlock, yellow birch and white pine, some over 500 years old. I was told that Alan Seeger was the first American to die in World War I, but I don’t know the possible caveats to that statement. He graduated from Harvard and moved to France, which he grew to love. He wanted to join the French Army, but was unable to, not being a citizen of France. So he did something that for the rest of us is merely an idle threat. He joined the French Foreign Legion and was killed on July 4, 1916.
He is famous for his poetry, particularly the poignant “Rendezvous with Death.” Pete Seeger is his nephew.