09/02/2026
From courtyard trees to handcrafted pens
Three Bradford pear trees planted in the early 1980s were recently removed from the courtyard of Tavern on the Square in Lincoln’s Historic Haymarket. Instead of going to waste, some of the wood is getting a second life through the Veterans in Recovery program.
The program helps veterans work through PTSD and traumatic brain injuries by giving them an opportunity to create pens using a wood lathe.
James Young, who leads the program, is air-drying the wood, which will eventually be turned into as many as 40 pens by veterans using a wood lathe.