Buttonwood_Giannotti Painting_Leaflet_01

Will you contribute, to
purchase this painting for the
Haddonfield Public Library?
The Last Buttonwood
John Giannotti, 2021 – 66" x 44" x 2.5"
(Using bark from a 300-year-old tree, planted by Quakers.)

Postcard (cropped) by Fowler and Flitcraft. Pre-1912.
In the early 1700s, Quakers
planted two buttonwood trees
– American sycamores – on the
main road in Haddonfield, marking
the entrance to a lane to their
meeting house.
Witnesses to history
After the Haddonfield Chapter
DAR attached two signs to the
tree on the left in 1899, passersby
took particular notice, and the
scene became a popular subject
for amateur photographers and
postcard manufacturers.
The years took their toll on the
tree on the left; it was taken down
in the 1970s. A new sign was
attached to the other tree in 1982.
When that tree was removed,
on January 15, 2018, Mayor Neal
Take-down, January 15, 2018. Photo: Deborah Garwood.
Artistic inspiration from
Rochford directed that parts of the
trunk and limbs be saved, so they
might be converted to something
other than mulch, wood chips,
and firewood. The Buttonwood
Project was born!
New uses for old wood
The Buttonwood Project seeks
to honor an old and historic tree
and the Quakers who planted
it in Haddonfield by converting
its remains to objects of art and
utility, by displaying those objects
and offering them for purchase by
the general public, and by using
the proceeds for some appropriate
shade tree-related purpose in
Haddonfield. A secondary goal
is to heighten awareness of the
“urban wood” movement.

John Giannotti. Photo: David Hunter.
From Historic Roadsides in New Jersey, 1928.
a 300-year-old tree
Noted artist and local resident
John Giannotti – creator of the
Hadrosaurus foulkii sculpture
downtown – harvested bark from
the remains of the tree, and used
it for the bark of the tree in his
relief painting.
John’s reference: A photograph [above
right] in Historic Roadsides in New
Jersey. The Society of Colonial Wars in
the State of New Jersey. 1928
A permanent home?
The Last Buttonwood is on
display in the Haddonfield Public
Library. Director Eric Zino says he
would be “thrilled” for it to remain
there, permanently. Will you help
fund the Library’s acquisition of
this extraordinary work of art?
Details on back panel. *
The Last Buttonwood
John Giannotti, 2021
Sculptural relief and oil on panel – 66” x 44” x 2.5”

The Buttonwood Project is making John Giannotti’s relief
painting The Last Buttonwood available for purchase. Net
proceeds will fund shade tree-related initiatives in Haddonfield.
The Public Library – where the painting is currently on
display – would be “thrilled” to acquire it. Donations
towards the purchase are being received by The Haddonfield
Foundation (a 501(c)(3)
organization, so your donation
is tax-deductible).
For more information about
The Buttonwood Project, or if
you have questions about this
fundraising campaign, please
call/text David Hunter at
856-428-3399.
Thank you for your support!
To donate online:
Visit gofund.me/fd830bbf or scan the QR code.
To send a check:
Tax-deductible donation: ____ $ 25
Pay to: “The Haddonfield Foundation”
____ $ 50
Memo: Write “Buttonwood Painting” on memo line ____ $ 100
Mail to: PO Box 555, Haddonfield NJ 08033
____ $ 250
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The Buttonwood Project is sponsored by the Haddonfield Cultural Events Commission.
Start-up funding provided by The Haddonfield Foundation. HaddonfieldFoundation.org