Project Elm

Making Cape Ann GREEN again,
one tree at a time.

(To make a financial contribution to our organization so we can purchase more trees, please scroll to the bottom of the page.)

Project Elm is preparing for our 2024 planting season. Young elm trees will be purchased this winter and delivered in early April for immediate planting. If you are interested in making a donation for a tree or just to the cause, please join us in our effort to restore our Cape Ann landscape with beautiful elm trees! Thank you, Cape Ann!

Donations to help fund our efforts are deeply appreciated. Though we are not yet a 501c3 organization and therefore donations are not yet tax deductible, they will help us do what we do best—buy and plant elm trees all over Cape Ann. Thank you.

Our dedicated volunteers will plant the tree(s) for you on the Cape Ann site you select. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for a gorgeous elm in your yard and help us by picking a site that is street facing so that we can help recreate the cathedral like “elm effect” all over Cape Ann like so many years ago and fight climate change at the same time!

Thank you!

About the Project

Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts, like so many US communities, were once blessed by the presence of glorious, vase-like American Elm trees along most of their streets, lanes and avenues. The 80-100+ foot trees were planted on Cape Ann in the mid-1800s to grace our communities for future generations. Rockport’s Dock Square had an elm planted by Ebenezer Pool in 1859 alongside the town pump, and the top of Pigeon Hill had two side by side named Loring and Rebecca that could be seen for miles from sea and helped guide local fishermen home from their journeys for over a century. Just about every street had a dozen or more elms to shade the landscape and create a cathedral-like setting that now lingers only in the memories of older generations.

Tragically, in the mid-1930s, with the onset of Dutch Elm Disease, every elm tree was endangered, and millions were lost. By 1980, Cape Ann streets were nearly empty of these once towering, verdant icons.

In 2021, Project Elm was launched out of a desire to repopulate Cape Ann’s streets and byways with disease-resistant American Elm cultivars that, when planted street, road and laneside, would not only beautify our landscape but have a positive, local impact to help our world when climate change threatens so much.

With generous funding from Awesome Rockport and Awesome Gloucester, in just three weeks in 2021, 100 American Elms were planted all over Rockport and Gloucester by a dozen dedicated volunteers in a 100% grass roots effort to make a difference for our residents, visitors, and our earth. To date, more than 250 elms have been planted all over Cape Ann!

Join us in this effort by planting an elm streetside on your property, or join the campaign to fund those who do. Thank you!

Watch the documentary

Want to learn more about the history of elm trees in the communities we all know and love? View our documentary made possible by Mike Rogers and Persistent Productions and immerse yourself in what Project Elm stands for. Thank you!