(Rockport, Maine) In 2017, Stephen Antonson, New York cabinetmaker, and his wife, Kathleen Hackett, designer and author counting Martha Stewart among her clients, acquired a chalet in Rockport, Maine Coastal city renowned for his artistic life, his lobsters and his breathtaking view of the bay of Penobscot.
At $ 320,000, this small wooden house in the 19th centurye century was among the cheapest properties on Mechanic Street, whose majestic residences dominate the fishing port.
The Antonson-Hackett house did not offer such a view. The land behind their house overlooks the port, but it was wooded and belonged to Ruth Graham, the widow next door.
Photo Sophie Park, The New York Times
Dead trees stand up in the line of view behind Stephen Antonson’s house and his wife, Kathleen Hackett.
Almost as soon as they arrived, the couple asked Mme Graham to delehe his land to clear the view. She refused. Passionate about gardening, the idea of shooting down trees repugnted him. In addition, a few years earlier, she had received an offense because one of her two sons, ignoring the strict rules protecting the coastal forest, had cleared part of her property.
A tenacious couple
Mr. Antonson and Mme Hackett did not let go. They even mobilized their two children in their quest for a beautiful view.
But Mme Graham, almost blind and almost nonagenarian at the time, was like his trees: unshakable.
She moved to Rockport to Demeure in 2010 upon her arrival with her husband, Wallace, a manager superior to the retirement. Mr. Graham died shortly after.
Her two sons invited her to get closer to Massachusetts or New Jersey, but she decided to stay in Rockport, charmed, say her friends, through the artistic life and the beauty of the region.
Photo provided by the Graham family, The New York Times
Ruth Graham family photo
She pushed climbing roses to the balconies overlooking the sea and, in winter, her heated veranda housed many geraniums and sick interior plants that she treated for her friends. She authorized her neighbors, including the Antonson-Hackett family, to use their wooden quay to moor their boats and swim.
Just before the summer of 2020, Mr. Antonson, 59, and Mme Hackett, 60, sent him a written letter from a childish writing, signed by their two sons, then adolescents.
Mobilized children
“We are very happy to have such a welcoming and generous neighbor,” we could read. “My brother and I grow up and we play more and more outside. We would like an easy -to -access place to play to maximize our outdoor activities. We understand that the ground behind our house belongs to you, and as my brother and I would like a courtyard, we think that a 7.5 m plot would be reasonable. »»
“My parents agree to pay the surveyor and the notary. Would you sell part of your land? »»
The boys seemed too big to play in the courtyard, but too young to discuss surveying and notary costs. Ruth Graham, said his son, thought that his neighbors were trying to abuse his age and his handicap. She politely declined the offer.
Photo Sophie Park, The New York Times
Ruth Graham authorized his neighbors, including the Antonson-Hackett family, to use their wooden platform to moor their boats and swim.
Mme Graham showed the note to his son Steven who was in charge of his business. Both have “found it ridiculous,” he recalls.
The following year, Mme Graham noticed something strange, despite his failing view. His trees, on his field next door, lost their leaves.
Herbicide in the holes
An arboriculturer oriented him towards the Maine forest service, which discovered holes pierced in dying trees. Called in reinforcement, the State Pesticide Control Service discovered a group of six to eight Thuyas, measuring 9 to 18 meters high, and another group of approximately four maple, all dying or dead.
Analysis of the liquid taken from the holes revealed the presence of a herbicide. The poisoning was “limited to a precise corridor of trees directly aligned with the terrace of the Antonson residence”, noted the report.
Photo Sophie Park, The New York Times
Climbing roses on the property of the late Ruth Graham
Alexander Peacock, director of the Pesticide Control Service, explained to New York Times that he had tried to contact the Antonson-Hackett family, without success.
Mme Graham, fearing that the largest of the dead trees will fall on his house, had them removed, at his expense. “She didn’t want there to be a quarrel between neighbors and being uncomfortable every time she left her home,” said her son. He and his brother planned to prosecute Mr. Antonson in court, but their mother told them that she did not want to spoil her last years with a conflict.
Photo Sophie Park, The New York Times
The Maison du couple Antonson-Hackett
Mr. Peacock’s team has maintained pressure on Mr. Antonson and Mme Hackett. They phoned, hit their door at Rockport and wrote to them at their address in Brooklyn. In the spring of 2023, two years after the trees began to die, the couple’s lawyer, Daniel Nuzzi, replied. He made it known that his clients denied all responsibility, but were willing to negotiate an amicable agreement on a fine, recalls Mr. Peacock.
Mr. Nuzzi has since retired. Last week, the New York Times sent questions to the couple’s new lawyer for the couple’s new lawyer, Michael Carey. He replied that his customers would make no statement.
Other poisoned trees
The case rebounded in the fall of 2023 when Denise Munger, who chaired the Rockport Municipal Council, made an alarming observation. “My husband and I would return to the port on our boat and we exclaimed:” My God, there is a new tall of dead trees! ” “, She said.
Photo Sophie Park, The New York Times
The bark detaches from the dead trees on the fire field Ruth Graham, at the end of August.
Pesticide department investigators returned to the field of Mme Graham and discovered a small group of poisoned maples, measuring 9 to 12 meters high, on the same strip of earth aligned with the rear windows from Mr. Antonson and Mme Hackett.
“We believe that the location of the affected trees, in addition to the correspondence past between the Antonson and the Graham requesting the slaughter of the trees, indicates that the Antonson would have been the only ones to benefit from the application of herbicides in the affected area,” said the report of the pesticide service.
The couple continues to deny any involvement. However, at the beginning of this year, Mr. Antonson signed an amicable project of agreement with the commission in which he denies his guilt and challenges the conclusions of the investigation, but agrees to pay the maximum fine of $ 3,000 for the two poisonings. (The name of mme Hackett does not appear in the text.)
Photo Sophie Park, The New York Times
The port of Camden, not far from Rockport, on the green coast of Maine.
It only remained the approval of the seven members of the public policy committee of the pesticide service at its public meeting in March.
However, the agreement was rejected and the committee instructed Mr. Peacock to obtain an agreement in which Mr. Antonson would recognize his guilt, a major discord in the negotiations. Mr. Graham indicates that his family is waiting for the result to decide whether or not to continue Mr. Antonson and Mme Hackett.
The reinforced law
Vicki Doudera, who represents Camden and Rockport at the Maine Legislative Assembly, collaborated this year with Mr. Peacock in the development of a new law providing fines from $ 1,500 to $ 10,000 per offense for the unauthorized application of herbicides and up to $ 50,000 if the state demonstrates that the offender “fired a substantial advantage” of his act. The fines are even higher for repeat offenders.
The law comes into force this month, but it does not apply to the Antonson-Hackett couple, because the facts predates its ratification.
And mme Graham? The controversy survived him. She died in the winter of 2024, at the age of 95. His house is for sale for 2.49 million.
This summer, his sons sold the neighboring land to a couple living in the same street. The new owners do not intend to build themselves there, but they could bring down other trees, which would improve their sight and, potentially, that of Antonson and Hackett.
This article was published in The New York Times.
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