August 2011 OutdoorIllinois / 15
The Illinois State Fairgrounds is the site of a new arboretum
showcasing historic Americans and moments in history.
Famous and HistoricTrees
Story By Reinee Hildebrandt
Photos By Adele Hodde
If trees could talk, the stories they
could tell.
Our nation’s trees stand as
living witnesses to our nation’s
rich history and resourceful
citizenry. The Department of Natural
Resources’ Urban and Community
Forestry Program, with funding from
the USDA Forest Service, has set out to
tell those stories by creating the State
of Illinois Famous and Historic Tree
Arboretum. Located in Springfield at
Conservation World within the State
Fairgrounds, the arboretum tells the
stories of people, but, more important-ly,
the connection between people and
trees throughout history.
In 1785, when George Washington
planted a yellow poplar (Liriodendron
tulipifera) at his Mount Vernon home,
little did he know that 200 years later
this tree would be selected as Mount
Vernon’s official bicentennial tree.
Washington loved his tulip poplars and
often took an evening stroll under these
trees. While most people know Wash-ington
as our nation’s first president, he
also could be described as a naturalist,
forester and horticulturalist. He had an
intense interest in the natural resources
of the region, and that translated into
copter seeds (samaras) outside her
childhood window so she could watch
the seeds fly to the ground each year.
The arboretum has an avenue of
sycamore trees (Platanus
occidentalis) that are significant to a
number of famous Americans, includ-ing
Gifford Pinchot, John James
Audubon, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elvis
Presley and Betsy Ross, and to three
historic moments in American history:
passage of the Stamp Act, Ellis Island
and the Apollo XIV Moon mission.
Others significant historical events,
places and people featured include the
Mark Twain Cave bur oak (Quercus
macrocarpa), Indian Marker pecan
(Carya illinoinensis), Williamsburg
golden raintree (Koelreuteria panicula-ta),
Minuteman red maple (Acer
rubrum), Gettysburg Address honeylo-cust
(Gleditsia triacanthos), Walden
Woods weeping willow (Salix sp.), Pearl
S. Buck crabapple (Crategus sp.), Edgar
Allen Poe hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
and the Longwood Gardens dawn red-wood
(Metasequoia glyptosoboides).
These are only a few of the many
stories trees can tell. To view a
brochure with a listing of trees in Illi-nois’
Famous and Historic Tree Arbore-tum,
including a map and the stories
behind the trees, visit the DNR Urban
and Community Forestry Web site at
dnr.state.il.us/ORC/urbanforestry/PDF/
2010_Historic_trees.pdf.
the practice of horticulture. On one of
Washington’s many journeys through-out
the region, he found the sweet red
buckeye (Aesculus pavia) and trans-planted
it at his “Little Hunting Creek
Farm,” later to be known as the Mount
Vernon estate.
By 1885, Theodore Roosevelt had
finished building his home on Sag-amore
Hill, also known as the Summer
White House. Of the trees that land-scaped
his home, including a red osier
dogwood, he stated: “There could be
no healthier and pleasanter place in
which to bring up children than in
that nook of old-time America around
Sagamore Hill.”
Being president is quite hectic,
which is why President John F.
Kennedy is reported to have remarked
while standing on a tree-filled hill on
the grounds of Arlington National
Cemetery: “This is so beautiful I could
stand here forever.” This sense of
solace provided by the beauty of trees
has helped provide moments of peace-fulness
for even the most notable of
national leaders. This very spot, land-scaped
with crabapples, became his
final resting spot.
Illinois’ very own Abraham Lincoln
was surrounded by trees his entire life.
In the Famous and Historic Arboretum
is a descendant of a persimmon
(Diospyros virginiana) from the child-hood
cabin where he was born in
1809, and a white oak (Quercus alba)
grown from acorns from a tree in
Albion, under which Lincoln cam-paigned
for General William Harrison
during the presidential race of 1840.
The Famous and Historic Arbore-tum
has a collection of cherry trees
propagated from the world-renowned,
Washington D.C. Tidal Basin Japanese
cherry trees, famous as symbols of
peace. In Illinois, the cherries bloom
in mid to late April.
John Chapman, better known as
Johnny Appleseed, set out barefoot in
the early 1800s, traveling from Pennsyl-vania
through the upper Midwest plant-ing,
selling and giving away apple trees
produced from seeds he collected from
cider presses. A prodigy of a Johnny
Appleseed tree is planted in the Famous
and Historic Arboretum.
Clara Barton (founder of the Ameri-can
Red Cross) and Amelia Earhart (first
woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
in 1928 and the second person to fly
solo across the ocean) both have trees
from their family homes planted in this
arboretum—a Kousa dogwood (Cornus
kousa) and a sugar maple (Acer saccha-rum),
respectively. How appropriate
that Earhart had a maple tree with heli-
Conservation World is located on the
northwest corner of the Illinois
State Fairgrounds and is open to the
public year-round.
Reinee Hildebrandt is the Urban Conser-vation
Program Administrator with the
Department of Natural Resources and
can be reached at (217) 785-8771 or
reinee.hildebrandt@illinois.gov.
Illinois’ Famous and Historic
Tree Arboretum is located on
the Illinois State Fairgrounds
in Springfield.
14 / OutdoorIllinois August 2011
sugar maple, Acer saccharum
red buckeye, Aesculus pavia
persimmon, Diospyros virginiana
crabapple, Malus sp.
yellow poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera
(Photo by Valerie Keener.)
(Photo by Joe McFarland.)
