Classics
The following article has been selected because it is deemed very popular or very important to the arboricultural profession and deserves special recognition. It has appeared in a previous Seminar and because of this it is not eligible for earning certification credits; there is no test at the end of this article.
Trees in American History
Edited by Len Phillips
When settlers came to America, they were greeted with vast forests of large trees. These trees were used for paper, building ships, keeping warm, and eventually building homes, fortresses, and fences. The tall and straight Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) trees were claimed by the British King for the sailing masts on the ships in the Royal Navy.
The Pine Tree
At the same time the early settlers honored the pine tree. The first coin in the colonies was the pine tree shilling which had an image of the pine on one side of the coin. Willows (Salix) were another frequently used tree as a symbol in the colonies. Certain trees were also used by native Americans and early settlers as trail markers for guiding travelers from one village to the next.
A Fruit Tree
Another early use of trees in the colonies was to provide food. Among the first wave of immigrants to the New World was an English Puritan named John Endecott, who in 1629, arrived to serve as the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, as his children watched, Endicott planted a pear tree imported from across the Atlantic. He is said to have declared at the time: "I hope the tree will love the soil and when we have gone the tree will still be alive." This 385 year old pear tree is still alive in present day Danvers, Massachusetts. It lives on the former Endicott farm and is now surrounded by an iron fence and is tended every year by a local arborist. The tree is also still bearing fruit every year.
Importance of Trees
Many settlers held religious services beneath the branches of stately trees. One tree, on a hilltop in Natick, Massachusetts was used for church services for over 50 years as well as a location for fostering debates focused on independence from England. William Penn declared one acre out of five should be spared of clearing the trees in Philadelphia.
On December 2, 1633 the Town of Cambridge, Massachusetts issued an order that any person who fell any tree near the path between Watertown and Charlestown, going through Cambridge would be fined five shillings for every tree felled. In 1635, Boston on the other hand, ordered all the trees removed from the neck connecting the city to the mainland. The wood was used for building lumber and fuel. This also eliminated the forest cover that provided hiding places for robbers who ambushed travelers. By 1646 however, Bostonians realized that the loss of the forest caused floods, erosion, and no shelter from the intense summer heat. The first public shade tree planting in the New World occurred that spring when a large number of men planted American elms. The children carried water to the trees while the women and maidens prepared the food.
Historic Trees
There were several trees that became very important in early American history. One massive oak tree in Connecticut was called the Charter Oak because it was used to hide Connecticut's charter when agents of the Crown were looking to revoke it in 1687. The tree fell during a storm in 1856 but it is still found in Connecticut iconography including a 3 cent U.S. postage stamp from 1935 to celebrate Connecticut's tercentenary and on a U.S. coin, a quarter issued in 1999 in honor of the state.
Another tree called the Liberty Tree was a large and impressive elm on the road leading in and out of Boston. It was under this tree that colonists gathered to protest the hated taxes imposed by the King. The tree became a symbol of civil disobedience in 1765. Many tax collectors were tar and feathered or hung in effigies along with messages of protest hanging from the branches of this tree. This tree was also called the Crucible of Revolution and was written about by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, along with several other patriots of the time. Some of the British loyalists were very upset by the signs and messages posted in this tree and in 1774 the British army cut the tree down. However, after this tree was destroyed, the backlash was swift. Bostonians quickly found another tree to meet under. Throughout the Colonies, trees were named in each capital city as an official Liberty Tree and many other cities and towns also selected their own local Liberty trees. These local trees were not necessarily an old or special tree, although that was often the case.
Incidentally, in 1999, in Annapolis, MD, the last of the 13 surviving Liberty Trees was severely damaged by Hurricane Floyd. A low lateral limb was twisted and ripped open the 8.5 ft. (2.6 m) diameter trunk, which was already very hollow, except for a 6 ft.(1.8 m) diameter core of concrete and stone. After an extensive review by a number of top arborists, it was decided to remove the last named survivor of the colonial Liberty Trees. It was removed with a lot of press and fanfare, more than 400 people attended a public event. A seedling from this tree, now already about 170 years old, stands just a short distance from the historic site.
Tall Pines
Trees were not used just for sentimental purposes, they were also used as an important export to Europe, especially the white pine which often grew to 150 feet tall and was the perfect mast for sailing ships. In 1772, the Pine Tree Riot occurred in New Hampshire. The King of England was claiming all pines larger than a 12 inch diameter belonged to the Royal Navy. Land owners could not sell or cut down these trees. This Riot was one of the first signs of the Revolution that began four years later. The colonists then began using tree images as a symbol of their resistance. They sewed images of trees onto their flags and carved them into their gunpowder horns and gathered under trees to discuss their grievances against the Crown and to develop plans to revolt. In 1776 when George Washington took command of the American Army, he did so under a spreading elm on the Cambridge, MA Town Common.
After the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, the selling of tall pines to England was stopped and the pines were then used on the American Navy ships. As a result, the British Navy's aging and battle fatigued masts were easily broken and this greatly impacted the outcome of naval battles throughout the Revolutionary War. During the 1783 battle of Yorktown, the final battle of the Revolution, the faulty masts prevented the British Navy from sending a large fleet of ships to reinforce the army of General Cornwallis. So the tall pines helped win the war that they had inspired in 1765.
Tree Lovers
After the Revolution, trees continued to play an important role in American life. Several presidents were considered tree-lovers. George Washington was obsessed with trees at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson was a very progressive horticulturalist and read many books about trees. He also recorded information about a lot of tree species he planted at Monticello, his estate in Virginia. The president who created the greatest number of national forests was Theodore Roosevelt. He was profoundly shaped by the wilderness, nature, and forests west of the Mississippi River. Franklin D. Roosevelt loved trees and encouraged the planting of 3 billion trees by the Civilian Conservation Corps and other work projects he created during the recovery efforts from the Great Depression. When FDR was the president he considered his occupation to be a “tree grower.”
For most of American history, cities were small and surrounded by trees. Early town centers had a common where cattle grazed and trees were grown to provide relief from the summer heat. Most residents depended on wood to build many things. The 18th century was a time when we were chopping down trees and planting almost none to replace them. That trend changed over the course of the 19th century when more trees were being planted than being cut down. At the same time new legislation was creating things like wilderness areas, recreation in forests, and national parks.
Johnny Appleseed is a legend based on the life of John Chapman who lived in the Midwest from 1774 – 1845. Legend says he planted apple seeds everywhere he went throughout six states so when early settlers arrived, apple trees were waiting for them. The fact is that he planted many nurseries rather than orchards and built fences around them to protect them from livestock. He then left the nursery in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares and Johnny returned every year or two to tend the nursery. At the time of his death, Johnny had over 1,200 acres of nursery land containing thousands of trees.
Recent Tree Events
In recent history there have been two “Survivor Trees”. In Oklahoma City, a terrorist's bomb destroyed the Murrah Federal Building and one of the few things left standing was a badly damaged, but alive American elm. At the Twin Towers in New York City, a callery pear managed to survive the loss of the two buildings. Both trees have been preserved and have become symbols of American resilience.
Today, Americans are still recognizing trees for their value. The United States is home to the world's biggest tree (General Sherman growing in Sequoia National Park in California), the world's tallest tree (Hyperion, a Coastal Redwood in northern California), and the world's oldest trees. The oldest and biggest single organism on earth is a stand of quaking aspens in Utah, known as the "Trembling Giant" or Pando. It is the clonal colony of a single male quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) which has been determined to be a single living organism by identical genetic markers and assumed to have one massive underground root system. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,600 tons (6,000 metric tons), making it the heaviest known organism. The root system of Pando is estimated to be 80,000 years old and has lived through many wildfires. After each fire, the root system sends up new trees to replace those lost.
Since 1940, the National Big Tree Program has been preserving and promoting the living monarchs to educate people about the key role that these trees play in sustaining a healthy environment. More than 750 champions are crowned and documented in the Champion Trees National Register.
Celebrations
Finally, there are two tree celebrations that are found throughout America. One is the annual Arbor Day program and the other is the Christmas tree.
1. Arbor Day – was founded in 1872 by Julius Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Nebraska. By the 1920s, every state had passed public laws that stipulated a certain day to be Arbor Day. National Arbor Day is celebrated every year, ususally on the last Friday in April, while in Nebraska, it is a civic holiday. The customary Arbor Day ceremony includes the planting of a tree. On the first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted.
2. Christmas Tree – The Puritan influence in New England led to laws making any Christmas observance of December 25, other than attending a church service, a penal offense and people were fined for hanging decorations. These laws continued until the mid-1800's when the German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy. In 1846 the very popular Queen Victoria was shown standing with their children around a Christmas tree. The Christmas tree immediately became fashionable in Britain as well as the fashion-conscious East Coast American society. Since the 1850's, decorating Christmas trees at the White House has been an annual event, except when Teddy Roosevelt banned the White House tree for environmental reasons.
Sources
Note from the Editor: If there are significant or historic trees in your region, send me a message so I can honor them in the next Seminar.
The following article has been selected because it is deemed very popular or very important to the arboricultural profession and deserves special recognition. It has appeared in a previous Seminar and because of this it is not eligible for earning certification credits; there is no test at the end of this article.
Trees in American History
Edited by Len Phillips
When settlers came to America, they were greeted with vast forests of large trees. These trees were used for paper, building ships, keeping warm, and eventually building homes, fortresses, and fences. The tall and straight Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) trees were claimed by the British King for the sailing masts on the ships in the Royal Navy.
The Pine Tree
At the same time the early settlers honored the pine tree. The first coin in the colonies was the pine tree shilling which had an image of the pine on one side of the coin. Willows (Salix) were another frequently used tree as a symbol in the colonies. Certain trees were also used by native Americans and early settlers as trail markers for guiding travelers from one village to the next.
A Fruit Tree
Another early use of trees in the colonies was to provide food. Among the first wave of immigrants to the New World was an English Puritan named John Endecott, who in 1629, arrived to serve as the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, as his children watched, Endicott planted a pear tree imported from across the Atlantic. He is said to have declared at the time: "I hope the tree will love the soil and when we have gone the tree will still be alive." This 385 year old pear tree is still alive in present day Danvers, Massachusetts. It lives on the former Endicott farm and is now surrounded by an iron fence and is tended every year by a local arborist. The tree is also still bearing fruit every year.
Importance of Trees
Many settlers held religious services beneath the branches of stately trees. One tree, on a hilltop in Natick, Massachusetts was used for church services for over 50 years as well as a location for fostering debates focused on independence from England. William Penn declared one acre out of five should be spared of clearing the trees in Philadelphia.
On December 2, 1633 the Town of Cambridge, Massachusetts issued an order that any person who fell any tree near the path between Watertown and Charlestown, going through Cambridge would be fined five shillings for every tree felled. In 1635, Boston on the other hand, ordered all the trees removed from the neck connecting the city to the mainland. The wood was used for building lumber and fuel. This also eliminated the forest cover that provided hiding places for robbers who ambushed travelers. By 1646 however, Bostonians realized that the loss of the forest caused floods, erosion, and no shelter from the intense summer heat. The first public shade tree planting in the New World occurred that spring when a large number of men planted American elms. The children carried water to the trees while the women and maidens prepared the food.
Historic Trees
There were several trees that became very important in early American history. One massive oak tree in Connecticut was called the Charter Oak because it was used to hide Connecticut's charter when agents of the Crown were looking to revoke it in 1687. The tree fell during a storm in 1856 but it is still found in Connecticut iconography including a 3 cent U.S. postage stamp from 1935 to celebrate Connecticut's tercentenary and on a U.S. coin, a quarter issued in 1999 in honor of the state.
Another tree called the Liberty Tree was a large and impressive elm on the road leading in and out of Boston. It was under this tree that colonists gathered to protest the hated taxes imposed by the King. The tree became a symbol of civil disobedience in 1765. Many tax collectors were tar and feathered or hung in effigies along with messages of protest hanging from the branches of this tree. This tree was also called the Crucible of Revolution and was written about by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, along with several other patriots of the time. Some of the British loyalists were very upset by the signs and messages posted in this tree and in 1774 the British army cut the tree down. However, after this tree was destroyed, the backlash was swift. Bostonians quickly found another tree to meet under. Throughout the Colonies, trees were named in each capital city as an official Liberty Tree and many other cities and towns also selected their own local Liberty trees. These local trees were not necessarily an old or special tree, although that was often the case.
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Incidentally, in 1999, in Annapolis, MD, the last of the 13 surviving Liberty Trees was severely damaged by Hurricane Floyd. A low lateral limb was twisted and ripped open the 8.5 ft. (2.6 m) diameter trunk, which was already very hollow, except for a 6 ft.(1.8 m) diameter core of concrete and stone. After an extensive review by a number of top arborists, it was decided to remove the last named survivor of the colonial Liberty Trees. It was removed with a lot of press and fanfare, more than 400 people attended a public event. A seedling from this tree, now already about 170 years old, stands just a short distance from the historic site.
Tall Pines
Trees were not used just for sentimental purposes, they were also used as an important export to Europe, especially the white pine which often grew to 150 feet tall and was the perfect mast for sailing ships. In 1772, the Pine Tree Riot occurred in New Hampshire. The King of England was claiming all pines larger than a 12 inch diameter belonged to the Royal Navy. Land owners could not sell or cut down these trees. This Riot was one of the first signs of the Revolution that began four years later. The colonists then began using tree images as a symbol of their resistance. They sewed images of trees onto their flags and carved them into their gunpowder horns and gathered under trees to discuss their grievances against the Crown and to develop plans to revolt. In 1776 when George Washington took command of the American Army, he did so under a spreading elm on the Cambridge, MA Town Common.
After the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, the selling of tall pines to England was stopped and the pines were then used on the American Navy ships. As a result, the British Navy's aging and battle fatigued masts were easily broken and this greatly impacted the outcome of naval battles throughout the Revolutionary War. During the 1783 battle of Yorktown, the final battle of the Revolution, the faulty masts prevented the British Navy from sending a large fleet of ships to reinforce the army of General Cornwallis. So the tall pines helped win the war that they had inspired in 1765.
Tree Lovers
After the Revolution, trees continued to play an important role in American life. Several presidents were considered tree-lovers. George Washington was obsessed with trees at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson was a very progressive horticulturalist and read many books about trees. He also recorded information about a lot of tree species he planted at Monticello, his estate in Virginia. The president who created the greatest number of national forests was Theodore Roosevelt. He was profoundly shaped by the wilderness, nature, and forests west of the Mississippi River. Franklin D. Roosevelt loved trees and encouraged the planting of 3 billion trees by the Civilian Conservation Corps and other work projects he created during the recovery efforts from the Great Depression. When FDR was the president he considered his occupation to be a “tree grower.”
For most of American history, cities were small and surrounded by trees. Early town centers had a common where cattle grazed and trees were grown to provide relief from the summer heat. Most residents depended on wood to build many things. The 18th century was a time when we were chopping down trees and planting almost none to replace them. That trend changed over the course of the 19th century when more trees were being planted than being cut down. At the same time new legislation was creating things like wilderness areas, recreation in forests, and national parks.
Johnny Appleseed is a legend based on the life of John Chapman who lived in the Midwest from 1774 – 1845. Legend says he planted apple seeds everywhere he went throughout six states so when early settlers arrived, apple trees were waiting for them. The fact is that he planted many nurseries rather than orchards and built fences around them to protect them from livestock. He then left the nursery in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares and Johnny returned every year or two to tend the nursery. At the time of his death, Johnny had over 1,200 acres of nursery land containing thousands of trees.
Recent Tree Events
In recent history there have been two “Survivor Trees”. In Oklahoma City, a terrorist's bomb destroyed the Murrah Federal Building and one of the few things left standing was a badly damaged, but alive American elm. At the Twin Towers in New York City, a callery pear managed to survive the loss of the two buildings. Both trees have been preserved and have become symbols of American resilience.
Today, Americans are still recognizing trees for their value. The United States is home to the world's biggest tree (General Sherman growing in Sequoia National Park in California), the world's tallest tree (Hyperion, a Coastal Redwood in northern California), and the world's oldest trees. The oldest and biggest single organism on earth is a stand of quaking aspens in Utah, known as the "Trembling Giant" or Pando. It is the clonal colony of a single male quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) which has been determined to be a single living organism by identical genetic markers and assumed to have one massive underground root system. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,600 tons (6,000 metric tons), making it the heaviest known organism. The root system of Pando is estimated to be 80,000 years old and has lived through many wildfires. After each fire, the root system sends up new trees to replace those lost.
Since 1940, the National Big Tree Program has been preserving and promoting the living monarchs to educate people about the key role that these trees play in sustaining a healthy environment. More than 750 champions are crowned and documented in the Champion Trees National Register.
Celebrations
Finally, there are two tree celebrations that are found throughout America. One is the annual Arbor Day program and the other is the Christmas tree.
1. Arbor Day – was founded in 1872 by Julius Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Nebraska. By the 1920s, every state had passed public laws that stipulated a certain day to be Arbor Day. National Arbor Day is celebrated every year, ususally on the last Friday in April, while in Nebraska, it is a civic holiday. The customary Arbor Day ceremony includes the planting of a tree. On the first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted.
2. Christmas Tree – The Puritan influence in New England led to laws making any Christmas observance of December 25, other than attending a church service, a penal offense and people were fined for hanging decorations. These laws continued until the mid-1800's when the German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy. In 1846 the very popular Queen Victoria was shown standing with their children around a Christmas tree. The Christmas tree immediately became fashionable in Britain as well as the fashion-conscious East Coast American society. Since the 1850's, decorating Christmas trees at the White House has been an annual event, except when Teddy Roosevelt banned the White House tree for environmental reasons.
Sources
- American Forests, Website at americanforests.org 2015.
- Carlson, Russ, Liberty Tree assessment and report
- Crawford, Amy, “How trees defined America”, Smithsonian, June 13, 2012.
- History Channel, “The History of Christmas Trees”, 2015.
- Widmer, Ted, “The indelible symbolism of a tree”, Boston Globe, November 22, 2015.
Note from the Editor: If there are significant or historic trees in your region, send me a message so I can honor them in the next Seminar.