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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



Several nominations, and much very interesting data, has 

 been sent to tin- American Forestry Association by those 

 who are anxious to see that the Liberty Tree gets a place 

 in the Hall of Font*. Mrs. H. IV. Burgan has sent a most 

 interesting account and the Peggy Stewart Tea Party 

 Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution have marked 

 the tree which is considered by many to be the oldest 

 living thing in tin- eastern part of the country. 



The tree is on the campus of St. John's College, Annapolis, 

 Maryland. This giant tulip poplar was on that spot before 

 Columbus discovered America, and the sturdy old tree 

 has survived the storms and changes of nearly six hundred 

 years. 



It stands a giant among the other trees of the campus. Its 

 trunk measures twenty-seven feet six inches in circumfer- 

 ence about two feet from the ground. At one time the 



ivqs made under this poplar in 1652. In the shade of this 

 tree, the citizens of Annapolis gathered frequently in 

 Colonial times. And in 1824, Lafayette was entertained 

 beneath its branches. It stands on the campus of a college 

 founded in 1694, and named King William's School. Jessie 

 Croft Garrison finds many references to the tree in the 

 old Maryland Gazette and informs us that the Daughters of 

 the American Revolution placed this inscription on the tree: 



THE LIBERTY TREE AT 'ANNAPOLIS 



life of this tree was very seriously threatened by decay. 

 Thtrt was a very large hollow in its trunks. But the 

 decay was arrested in a rather unusual manner. A number 

 of boys thinking they zvould have some fun, exploded two 

 pounds of pozvder in the dry rotting hollow of the tree. 

 One might think that this explosion would have injured the 

 tree but instead the fire following the explosion saved it 

 by burning out the decaying portions of the tree. Ac- 

 cording to a tradition, the treaty with the Susquehannocks 



"This tablet placed upon the Liberty Tree by the Peggy 

 Stewart Tea Parly Chapter, Daughters of the American 

 Revolution, of Annapolis, Maryland, October 19, 1907, to 

 commemorate the first treaty made here with the Susque- 

 hannocks in 1652, and that George Washington in 1791, and 

 General Lafayette in 1824, visited St. John's College. 

 Through the munificence of James T. Woodward, of New 

 York City, this tree, estimated to be over 600 years old, has 

 been preserved from decay." 



