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Up in the Town of Geneseo, south of Rochester, NY there are the "Wadsworth Oaks" or "Genesee Oaks" that are many hundreds of years old. It seems the Wadsworth family, receiving the original land patent from King George just around the time of the Revolution, were the original settlers here. As the land was cleared by the tenant farmers, Mr Wadsworth placed a stipulation in the leases that the big oak trees were not to be cut or a penalty of $20.(a huge sum back then) would be assessed. His reason was the countryside reminded him of his English home and all its ancient oak trees. So the result today are these monster oak trees that dot the landscape, and it is indeed quite a pretty area. Some of the trees are older than 500 years. The present farmers till widely around the trees to preserve them.
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