Show rora A tre es L a A N N A N 4 t 0 eal pl i N M t e ka az va re A ov at A A 7 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON RESIDENT proclamation setting aside the week ot april 22 to 28 as american forest week and urging that where practicable and not in conflict with taw law or custom arbor day be observed during the course of the week should make all americana tree iree minded in that they should give thought to the preservation and wise use of our forests it might be welt dwelt also to give thought to some of the famous trees which have stood or are still hlll standing on the soll soil of the united states and which have played placed their part pait in tile tha history making of this nation la in tart fact r ro EO o important has been the role of trees in american history that the american tree association a few years ago established a hall of fame for trees and immediately citizens in all parts of the country proud of the historic trees in their communities nominated them for places in this gallery of honor although nearly every state boasts of one or more trees which Is well known locally or throughout tile the state there are comparatively few which are or have been objects of national veneration there are three however which are probably known to every american first of these perhaps Is the washington elm tit in cambridge mass blass under which george washington took command of the continental army on july 3 1775 the long and honored career of till tree then more than WO years jeara old came to an end in august 1023 1923 when the whole trunk cracked and fell while workmen were pulling palling a dead branch from it another famous tree of the same species was the treaty elm on the banks of the delaware river under whose branches william penn and the indians made the only treaty between these people and the christians that was not ratI ratified fled b by oath and that was never broken an agreement that gave the famous quaker title to the land which later became the great state of pennsylvania vania the treaty elm was blown down in 1810 and its inge age at that time was estimated to have hae been years the third in the trilogy of most famous trees was ft as not an elm but what schoolboy does not know the thrilling history of the charter oal oak which once stood in hartford conn in its hollow trunk it once held tal ohp e charter of tile the colony of connecticut where capt joseph wadsworth placed it when the lights were sud denly extinguished on that historic occasion in when sir edmund andros who had been appointed royal governor arnor of new england demanded demand pd that tile the assembly surrender to him ails its symbol of their liberties as eng elsh ish citizens and when the charter oak was uprooted by a storm in 1856 the whole hole state of connecticut went into mourning church bells were tolled and this great oak which was believed to be between and 1000 years old 1 the only tree on record for which funeral services were ever hold held although the following Is by no means a U complete list of all tho historic treet arcel in n the united states which have been registered in the tree hall ball of fame or otherwise by the american people some of them still 7 n 4 0 1 V 4 Z lp s alyf oba 0 hy cb standing and some long since passed away it will give an idea of the intimate association of some ch of the forest with some history maki mak ing event washington elm near palmer mass blass on the boston highway of which it Is recorded that beneath this tree washington rested and refreshed himself and delivered a short address only three days previous us to taking command of the army at ambridge JI liberty berty tree an elm which stood in it boston coni common mon and under which meetings to protest against the 8 tamp stamp act and other oppressions oppress ions by england were held by the patriots it was vas cut down in 1776 1775 while the british army occupied boston tor for firewood and for revenge upon the rebels lafayette tree in front of la fayettes fay ettes headquarters at yorktown va the house still contains Im bedded in its walls cannon balls fired bred during the elege bleg e of yorktown and previous to the surrender of Cornwall ls treaty tree near vincennes ind sole survivor of a walnut grove in which gon gen william henry harrison held a council with the great indian chief tecumseh august 1210 12 10 1810 boones bar tree on boones creek a small tributary of the in eastern tennessee which while still standing bore the insert inscription p carved by the noted pioneer ID D boon billed A BAR on this tree year 8 daniel boone judgment tree an elm at femme osage about fifty five miles west of st louis on it a farm which was part of the land tilled by boone during tits his missouri residence in ir Q it Is so named froth froni the fact that boone held court under it during the hot days of summer john browns tree a white oat oak near conn under whose branches branche s john brown of Osawa and harpers ferry fame played as a child calling it my tree and revisiting it every time lie returned to the abl ancestral home in connecticut it Is also called the council tree because of its use tor for that purpose by indians or of that vicinity morse elm in washington D C named for samuel F it norse morse inventor of the telegraph who often sat beneath it and related to interested listeners the wonders of the telegraph standing at the corner comer of pennsylvania avenue a and nd V fourteenth burtee nth street this elm had looked down upon every inaugural parade that had ever been held field in the Caril capital taL tree that owns itself tin an oak in athens At liena on ga which owns the land on oil which it stands through a deed made by dr IV 11 jackson a member of the faculty fac tilty of tile university of georgia when the opening of a street through that land threatened its destruction scythe tree in waterloo N Y when wyburn johnson enlisted in the union army ln in 1801 lie he hung his bla scythe in a crotch of a small tree to be left there until ills his return lie he was killed in battle and the tree la in its growth enveloped the scythe until now it Is firmly embedded in the trunk with only the point showing allowing wesley oak on st SL almona island ga under this tree both john and charles wesley founders of the Aleth methodist odid church in america preached their first sermons on this continent contine nL webster tree near franklin N H M on this tree daniel webster hung ills his scythe when he decided to go to dartmouth college and the path from this tree led webster to congress and to the office of the iho secretary of tate abate he fie never reached the Preal presidency dency but he twice refused the nomination for vice president and in both cases the head of the ticket on which he be would have been elected died in office council oak in sioux city iowa beneath which lewis and claris claric camped and held one of their first councils with the indians after leaving st louis battle ground oak at guilford Gul lford court house N C also called the liberty tree it stands on the battle battie ground of guilford Gul lford court house fought march tile battle that won the revolution since cornwallis Cornwall ls cosily victory there led directly to yorktown and tits hla surrender general greene Is said to have tied hla his horse to tills this tree during the battle Keil kentucky tucky coffee tree in front of 0 tile the ver planck mansion at fishkill on hudson occupied by baron steuben during the revolution the first meeting of the society of the cincinnati was ras held under this tree live oak at pomona calif markin ing the spot where in 1837 1 7 the first white settlers camped in the Por pomona tiona valley abraham lincoln tree in Deco decorum Decor hta ruh iowa a back huckberry berrT planted by bonn bohn finn la in memory of tile the martyred marty red president on april 27 the day which the governor of iowa had designated as a day of mourning for lincoln the tree Is now feet high and nearly 12 feet around |