All is shipshape at Duke Besozzi’s lumberyard

Duke Besozzi has cutting relationships with trees. Below left he is shown with best friend Alan, his regular co-worker in the lumberyard. Photo by Lazlo Gyorsok
CORNWALL — The massive white oak trees that dot the hillside at Salisbury’s Town Grove are cherished both as sentinels of the town’s history and for their awesome appearance. When they die, they remain appreciated for their incomparable value — sometimes even in places worlds away from the Northwest Corner.
A few years ago, Duke Besozzi of Cornwall, owner of New England Naval Timbers, received a call from Salisbury First Selectman Curtis Rand, notifying him about a dead white oak from the Grove that needed to be taken down.