Significant Trees in History and Loudoun County

By Aprille Hunter

In a country as young as the United States, trees are one of the most accessible and abundant historical artifacts we have, and some would even call them national treasures. For example, there was a recent discovery in North Carolina of a nearly 65-mile long grouping of Bald Cypress trees that were found to be over 2,000 years old. In 1931, a White Oak was registered in West Virginia that was estimated to be almost 600 years old.

Virginia residents also have an interest in historic trees and channeled it into action when the state began the Virginia Big Tree Program to keep record of her own large trees, and give them the recognition they deserve. Founded by 4H and the Future Farmers of America in 1970, this group began recording tree sizes in VA by looking at the circumference of the trunk, height of the tree, and spread of its canopy. Today the VA Big Tree Program is managed by Virginia Tech and the Virginia Cooperative Extension, as well as volunteers across the state, and is affiliated with the National Big Tree Program. After a quick search of their website, you will find that Loudoun County alone has 61 trees registered on the VA Big Tree list, 15 of which are state champions, and one, an Eastern Redbud, is a national champion.

The locations of these trees include both residential and commercial properties, such as the state champion Red Mulberry tree at the Ashburn Veterinary Hospital, and the state champion Hornbeam tree at Oatlands Historic House and Gardens.

The tree at the veterinary hospital is right off the W&OD trail and Oatlands is open to visitors every day! If the tree that most interests you is on private property, the homeowners are usually fine with having visitors to take a look at their tree, but be sure to contact them first. Contact information can be found in the listing of each tree on the program’s website. You can use the advanced search to look up trees by locality or try the basic search to look at a specific species.

Give these amazing trees a visit and some appreciation!

Sources
Bald Cypress Discovery: https://earthsky.org/earth/north-america-oldest-trees-bald-cypress

White Oak Discovery: https://www.wvpublic.org/radio/2019-09-23/september-23-1938-cutting-of-the-mingo-oak