Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-05-25
THE LIBERTY TREE.
N stands on the Campus of st. johns
CoIfere. Annnpolis.


College, Annapolis.
In a paper on the Historic Trees Of
America" w. W. Rowlee says;
"The Washington elm Is more widely
known than any historic tree In Amer
lea. but IL must share with the Liberty
tree of Annapolis the honor OF playing
n part In rocking the cradle of liberty.
The Liberty tree Is tulip tree (Llrio-
dendron tulipfera), sometimes called tu-
lip poplar. .
"Traditlon says that the people or
Annapolis met In the troublesome days
before the Revolution to consult TO-
cether and listen to Samuel Chase ID
his arraignment of King George. AT
that time it's spread Of branches was
far beyond anything known OF 1t by
this generation. 1t is also a tradition
that Washington and Lafayette ban
quoted In It's shade. They certainly
were at different times In Annapolis
and were entertained at st. Johns col
lege, upon whose campus the tree
stands.
"Through the kindness Of President
Thomas Fell OF st. Johns college the
writer is able to quote from history
of Annapolis the following reference 10
the Liberty tree:
"The earliest traditions handed down
to us Of the imperial poplar tree that
adorns the college campus is that 1t
served as the canopy under which the
colonists and Indians made treaty OF
peace. AS history records only one
document of this kind signed here, this
treaty must have been the one agreed
between the colonists and the sturdy
Susquehannocks in 1862.
"The next public use of 1t, we find
in "Eddes' Letters" was when the In
habitants assembled under 1t to deter
mine whether or not persons who have
NOT 1oined the Association Of Patriots
should be driven out Of the colony. In
1925 General Lafayette was entertain
cd under II, and after that there were
frequent mentions in the Maryland
Gazette OF Fourth Of July celebrations
taking place under its ample shade
about 1910 several youths were
playing under this tree with that very
dangerous but frequent adjunct of tu
venIle sport-gunpowder. They had
about two pounds of it. They placed
1t in the hollow Of the tree. where Ii
was ignited and exploded, setting fire
to the grand old tree. The citizens OF
Annapolis repaired In force for its res
cue. the fremen bringing out the city
fire engine and deluging the tree with
water. The boys escapade was lie
doubt greatly denounced, but the ju
yeniles had done better than their de
punciators thought or the Juveniles in
tended. The tree had fallen into
state of decay that threatened its life
The next year it put forth its branches
with its youth renewed. The explo
sion had destroyed the worms thai
were gnawing away its yitals.
"How long this monarch Of prime
val forest has existed none can tell
An octogenarian tells me he remem
bcrs it In 1912. 1t seemed as large
I then as now. If in 1862 1t was of sucl
imposing growth that it was selected
as the scene of so important an even
as the making of treaty of peace by
the whites with their savage foes. may
we not infer it lived before Columbus
discovered America? On July IL, 1856
It was 20 feet In circumference two
feet from the ground and stood abou
$50 feet high. One-thlrd Of the truni
is gone and Is now boarded up. Th'
body of the tree is mere shell-a mar
vel how It's life can be maintained
and thousands Of tulips bloom en- III
branches in their season."-Baltimor'
Gnu