The Liberty Tree was an elm, at the corner of Essex and Orange Streets in Boston MA. The Sons of Liberty used this tree for posting protest documents and hangings in effigy prior to the U.S. Revolutionary War.
I’m sure this tree has been long dead, but do any of the Dopers know its final fate?
It was cut down for firewood by British troops in 1775. Legend has it that it yielded 13 cords of firewood. One for each reble colony.
Cripes! That was fast, Ursa, thanks much. What the heck is with you? Do you know everything?
FWIW, I believe there was a Liberty Tree in each of the colonies, at which the colonists would gather to gripe. The last living tree was on the campus of St. John’s in Annapolis. Last year, tissue samples were taken with the plan of cloning the tree and presenting one to every state. Shortly after the samples were taken, the tree was struck by lightning, creating a sizable crack. After examination by a number of specialists, including (IIRC) one flown in from Germany, the College and the State decided to take the tree down…
IIRC, all the colonies had Liberty Trees, where the revolutionaries would gather to bitch about Mother England.
The tree in Mass. might be the original and most famous, but the one in Annapolis was just recently cut down after hurricane damage made it unstable.
Damn, johnson just beat me by two minutes.
And I believe 647 is correct, it was Floyd, not lightning, resulting in the tree’s ultimate demise…
IIRC, The one in Annapolis was the last one.
If men had wings,
and bore black feathers,
few of them would be clever enough to be crows.
IIRC, The one in Annapolis was the last one.
If men had wings,
and bore black feathers,
few of them would be clever enough to be crows.
As an Annapolitan bred, I can state that it was Hurricane Floyd, at least according to the Crabwrapper (excuse me, the Evening Capital), which caused such instability that even though the tree was still alive, it could not stay up for long. Much of the inside of the main trunk was filled with a sort of concrete, anyway.
Now artisans are making (assertedly) tasteful souvenirs out of it, including a new gavel for the MD General Assembly.
I was very sad to see it go – the campus doesn’t seem complete without it.
Ooh, I love your magazine. My favorite section is `How to increase your word power’. That thing is really, really… really… good. – Homer, ``Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington’’
Hepzibah–I always preferred calling it the Crapital, although I often used it as a crapwrapper. And, is there still an Evening Capital? There used to be a morning and evening paper, but isn’t there just one now? In the north of the county it was called the Gazette. It’s been a while, though.
Nope, it’s still around. There’s even a website:
http://www.capitalonline.com/
I think the Gazette may be a sister paper, or something like that, since the website claims it’s sposored by Capital-Gazette Publications.
Ooh, I love your magazine. My favorite section is `How to increase your word power’. That thing is really, really… really… good. – Homer, ``Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington’’