GW finds two of the largest Sycamores on the Planet
Here is a picture of a Sycamore close to the dimensions George Washington found.
Close, but no cigar.
This one is 24' 7"
George Washington's?
44 ft 10 inches. Girth measured 3 feet from the ground.
And then he found another one nearby.
31.4 feet around.
Found them north of Point Pleasant of today's West Virginia.
And when was this?
November 1770, right during the trials accusing the British of the Boston Massacre. John Adams defended Captain Preston and he also helped other lawyers for the others.
George Washington was looking for the Promised Land of long gone Lt Gov Dinwiddie, who promised it only to the boys with red breeches serving in 1754, and NOT for those after, not even for those of Braddock's Defeat of 1755.
Those were the days of the Giants, both of wood and woodsmen.
And even a very short and stout man of the Boston area was one of those giants. And so too was Guyasuta who met GW on that trip..
Any trees existing beat these measurements?
For an approximate result, multiply Girth Value by 3.281
The first 3 biggest girth measurements are in the United States.
The 9.40 meters = 30.839 feet
How old and large?
In the uncut North American forest sycamores lived for 700 or 800 years and attained great girths if not particularly spectacular heights. Many of these trees had trunks that were 14 or 15 feet in diameter. George Washington described a pair of sycamores in his diary when he was in the Ohio Valley in 1770. One was just shy of 45 feet in circumference (just over 14 feet in diameter) and the other was just over 31 feet in circumference (about 10 feet in diameter).
Currently, the largest sycamore in the Eastern United States is growing in Ashland, Ohio. It is 129 feet tall with a 15 foot diameter and a 48 ½ foot circumference. It is a true giant even compared to the sycamores described by the early explorers of North America!
Hollow Caves
A very interesting aspect of these old sycamores is that they tend to rot out their heartwood while maintaining a strong, outer, living wood shell. This forms cave-like hollows at the ground level and chimney-like cylinders up in the crowns. Many European settlers took advantage of these “sycamore caves” and lived in them sometimes for several years until they had amassed sufficient resources to build a cabin. There is a delightful essay about the American sycamore and early North American settlement in Luke Bauserman’s “The Weekly Holler” (January 15, 2017).
SOURCES:
GW's Nov 1770 diary. Look at Sunday Nov 4.
Before GW finds those immense Sycamores, he runs into a boat carrying sheep to the Illinois country.
"November 4th, 1770
After passing these hills, which may run on the river near a mile, there appears to be a nother pretty good bottom on the east side, - At this place we met a canoe going to Illinois with sheep,
and at this place also,
that is, at the end of the bottom from the Kenhawa, just as we came to the hills,
we met with a sycamore about 60 yards from the river, of a most extraordinary size; it measruing 3ft from the ground, and 45ft round, lacking 2 inches;
and not 50 yards from it was another, 31ft around.
After passing this bottom, and about a mile of hills, we entered another bottom and encamped.- This bottom reaches within about a half mile of the rapid, at the point of the Great Bend."
Adams defends Preston from Oct 24 to Oct 30. and the rest of the company was defended Nov 27.
No one would agree to defend these British soldiers unless John Adams agreed to join and lead the Defense. John Adams wrote that was the best thing he ever did.
John Adams wrote, 3 years after the Boston Massacre on 5 March 1773:
The Part I took in Defence of Captn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right.
But then he had to balance this perspective to the zeitgeist passion of the moment:
This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest of Proofs of the Danger of standing Armies.
Picture Credit goes to this Facebook posted by Marvim Reis 21 Nov 2024, 1026am.
The Buttonball Tree is located in Sunderland, Massachusetts. This particularly special American Sycamore is known for its size. It stands proud at over 113 feet tall, with a spread of 140 feet, and a girth of 24 feet and 7 inches. The exact age of this enormous tree is not known, but experts guess that it is between 350 to 400 years old.
A plaque stands before the tree, on a stone, and reads: “787 The national 1987 Arborist Association and the International Society of Arboriculture jointly recognize this significant tree in this bicentennial year as having lived here at the time of the signing of our constitution.”
Credit to the respective owner
Compiled by Jim Moyer 11/27/2024, updated Thanksgiving Morning 11/28/2024, updated 12/2/2024
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