St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-04-17
The Liberty Tree.

The following is taken from paper OF
the Historic Trees Of America:
"The Washington Elm is more widely
known than any historic tree in America
but it must share with the Liberty Tree
of Annapolis the honor of playing part
in rocking the cradle OF liberty. The Lib
erty Tree is a tulip tree (Liriodendron
tulipfera), sometimes called tulip-poplar
Tradition says that the people of An
napolis met in the troublesome days
before the revolution to consult together
and listen to Samuel Chase in his araign.
ment of King George. At that time its
| spread of branches was far beyond any,
thing known of it by this generation. 1t
is also tradition that Washington and
Lafayette banqueted in its shade. They
certainly were at different times in
Annapolis, and were entertained at st.
Johns college, upon whose campus the
tree stands.
Through the kindness of Pres. Fell, of
st. Johns College, the writer is able to
quote from a history of Annapolis the
following reference to the Liberty Tree:
The earliest traditions handed down
to us of the imperial poplar tree that
adorns the college campus is that it
served as the canopy under which the
colonists and Indians made treaty of
peace. AS history records only one docu.
meut of this kind signed here, this treaty
must have been the one agreed between
the colonists and the sturdy Susquehan.
nocks in 1852.
The next public use of it, we find in
'Eddies Letters, was when the inhabi-
tants assembled under it to determine
whether or not persons who have not
joined the Association of Patriots should
be driven out of the colony. In 1925
Gen. Lafayette was entertained under it,
and after that there were frequent men
tons in the Maryland Gazette of Fourth
OF July celebrations taking place under
its ample shade.
About 1910 several youths were play.
ing under this tree with that very dan
gerous but frequent adjunct of juvenile
sport-gunpowder They had about two
pounds of it. They placed it in the hol-
low Of the tree, where it was ignited and
exploded, setting fire to the grand old
tree. The citizens of Annapolis repaired
in force for its rescue, the fremen bring
ing out the city FIRE engine and deluging
the tree with water.
The boys escapade was no doubt
greatly denounced, but the Juveniles had
done better than their denunciators
thought or the Juveniles intended. The
tree had fallen into state of decay that
threatened its life. The next year it
put forth it's branches with its youth
renewed. The explosion had DESTROYED
the worms that were guawing away its
vitals.
How long this monarch of a primeval
forest has existed none can tell. An octo-
genarian tells me heremembers it in 1912.
1t seems as large then as now. If in
1862 it was OF such imposing growth
that it was selected as the scene of so
important an event as the making of a
treaty of peace by the whites with their
savage foes, may we not infer it lived
before Columbus disco vered America?
On July IS. 1886, it was 20 feet in cir
conference two feet from the ground and
stood about $50 feet high. One-third of
the trunk is gone aud is now boarded
up. The body of the tree is a mere
shell--a marvel how its life can be main
tanned and thousands of tulips bloom on
its branches in their season."