There was a time -- not very long ago -- when trees were much more numerous on that scant strip of real estate between Lake Flower Avenue and Lake Flower itself, where the two are squeezed together in that section called "The Narrows". Some were taken out by storms. Others ran afoul of road salt. Located near the south end of the strip, just before the shorelands widen at the old Dupree House and just north of the foot of Merrill Street, this old Black Willow -- a perfect rope tree -- was the place to be on a hot July day.