Landmark Trees

by Vicki Brown

A honey locust tree, which sheltered soldiers during the Battle of Gettysburg, survived the bloody battle in July 1863 and today shades the graves of Union soldiers who died on the Pennsylvania battlefield. Four and a half months after the pivotal Civil War battle, the tree, with its long thorns and spreading branches, also bore silent witness to the immortal speech in which President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain."

"It’s the only thing that was there during the battle and also during the Gettysburg Address,’’ says Kathy Harrison, senior historian at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pa. (pop. 7,490). "It gives you a sense of continuity that takes you to those two significant moments. It’s a living thing. You can touch it, you can feel it."

The nation’s history lives in thousands of trees documented by American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that works to preserve and propagate trees associated with significant people, places and events in American history.

From the tulip poplars that President George Washington ordered planted at his plantation in Mount Vernon, Va. (pop. 28,582), in 1785, to the red maples that inspired writer Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond near Concord, Mass. (pop. 16,993), to the last living tree known to have been planted by Johnny Appleseed—historic trees strike a chord with people from all walks of life.

"You’re touching history with these trees,’’ says Ken Roberts, a financial publisher and educator who has planted hundreds of trees—grown from seeds or cuttings of trees associated with famous people or places—on his farm in Grants Pass, Ore. (pop. 23,003). "If I have a seedling from the Gettysburg tree, I’m connected. Once a historic tree dies, you’ve lost the connection, unless there’s a direct offspring that keeps it alive.’’

The seedlings Roberts planted came from the Historic Tree Nursery, an American Forests’ project aimed at inspiring people to protect, preserve and plant trees. Proceeds from nursery tree sales fund projects such as replanting of Western lands razed by forest fires. The nursery’s work also ensures that when historic trees die—and even well-tended, protected trees eventually die—that direct offspring can be planted to take their place.

"If you had never planted a tree, but you were a Civil War buff, you might plant a honey locust," says Jeff Meyer, 46, the nursery’s project director, who has been a tree-planter since childhood.

Tree registry

Founded in 1875, American Forests, the nation’s oldest nonprofit conservation organization, was formed when many forests were being cleared as part of the country’s westward expansion.

In 1917, the organization published its first listing of historic trees. As the listing was updated over the years, people began to notice that many of the trees on the 1917 registry had died or been destroyed, a realization that fueled preservation efforts. More than 2,500 trees have been nominated for The National Register of Historic Trees, a new list that the organization will publish in book form in 2006 or 2007.

"When we started, very few people knew much about historic trees. The history was there, but we’ve gathered it and focused on the trees,’’ Meyer says, adding that now the registry gets nominations of historic trees every day.

One of Meyer’s favorite stories is that of the white oak at famed abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass’ home in downtown Washington, D.C. "He (Douglass) would sit under that tree and play his violin,’’ Meyer says, noting that when Douglass had a heart attack in 1895, he sat down to rest and died under his beloved tree.

A story that never fails to enthrall school children is that of George Washington’s tulip poplars. "Washington was a prolific tree planter, and collecting different seeds and trading them was a hobby he shared with Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin,’’ Meyer says. Among the trees he planted at his Mount Vernon plantation are two tulip poplars along a rolling lawn on the western side of the house.

The historic tree nursery began with efforts to grow trees from the seeds of those tulip poplars, but the seeds planted for several years never grew. Finally, Frank Santamour, the tree geneticist for the National Arboretum, solved the mystery.

"The trees were so tall that their blooms were 80 to 100 feet off the ground, too high for bees to pollinate them,’’ Meyer says. Santamour suggested hand-pollinating the trees with fertile pollen.

"We used a cherry picker, and we went up into the tree and pollinated them. We finally got fertile seeds,’’ Meyer says.

Johnny’s apple trees

American Forests has helped rediscover historic trees, such as a Rambo apple tree planted by John Chapman (better known as folk legend and nurseryman Johnny Appleseed) on the Harvey-Algeo farm in Savannah, Ohio (pop. 372).

"We always thought it was neat we had a tree planted by Johnny Appleseed,’’ Phyllis Algeo says. "My husband, Dick, had heard the story of the tree from his mother and grandmother. It had just been handed down through the generations.’’

The Algeo family, which has owned the farm for eight generations, has handed down stories of Johnny Appleseed planting the tree, visiting the farm, and even sleeping in a small building on the farm. Dick Algeo says historians know Appleseed lived in nearby Mansfield, Ohio, for 20 years and planted apple orchards in the area, so the family stories of his visits are logical. "My grandmother always said she believed the tree was part of an orchard,’’ he says.

When the Algeos’ daughter called the Historic Tree Nursery to order a tree for a school where she worked, she mentioned her family’s tree. Nursery staffers went to work getting softwood and root cuttings to grow another generation of the trees.

"It’s falling apart, don’t get me wrong, it’s just barely hanging on, but there are apples on it right now as I look outside my kitchen window,’’ Mrs. Algeo says of the tree, which the family believes was planted in the 1830s. "We love the tree. I think Johnny Appleseed is still protecting it.’’

Maybe so, since the tree has far exceeded the normal 50 to 60 year lifespan of an apple tree, says Susan Corbett, a spokeswoman for American Forests. Seedlings from the tree are among the most popular the nursery sells, she adds.

Many of the most popular trees are connected with a president, such as the Southern magnolia that Andrew Jackson planted at the White House sometime between 1829 and 1837 in memory of his beloved wife, Rachel. Other famous trees are more modern, such as the weeping willow, pin oaks, and Southern magnolia from Graceland, the Memphis, Tenn., home of rock ’n’ roll star Elvis Presley.

Just the fact that many of the trees are still living despite age, storms, war and development is something to marvel at, Gettysburg’s Harrison says.

"Some of these trees are really old. That they are here, and knowing they are not going to live forever, I think you have to take time to appreciate them,’’ she says. "I look at the honey locust, and its branches and twigs are covered with spiky thorns. It’s not a delicate tree, and I think, well of course, it’s a survivor.’’

To learn more about America’s historic trees, log on to www.historictrees.org or call American Forests at (800) 320-8733.

Vicki Brown is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

first appeared: 9/4/2005