Danvers -- Behind and over from the planned Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care is the Endicott Pear Tree, which was brought from England and planted by the first governor of the colony, John Endicott, in the 1630s, on what was then his land. The tree holds a special place in the hearts of many Danversites. The town forgot to take possession, however, despite a vote of Town Meeting in the 1940s authorizing it, said Town Archivist Richard Trask in an earlier interview. Since then, the tree’s fate has been up to others.

The little fruit tree has endured hurricanes and neglect. It even survived an act of vandalism in 1964, when all its limbs were cut off. But, it survived, and since then OSRAM/Sylvania and the town have tended it well.

But, it is fenced in and hidden, hardly a position for such a stalwart specimen.

The Bon Chretien variety of pear tree “is a living link tracing back to the earliest European settlers of our nation,” Trask said in a letter to Salem Hospital’s CEO Robert Norton last year.

Norton on Tuesday during the socializing after the groundbreaking said the hospital will build a walkway to the tree and down to the riverbank. It will also allow public access — just as Trask and other historically minded people have hoped.