On March 25, 2026, residents from across Maryland gathered at the William Paca House in Annapolis to celebrate Maryland Day during the 250th anniversary year of the founding of our democracy. The focus of the Paca House celebration was the planting and dedication of a tulip poplar scion or sapling of Maryland’s original Liberty Tree. (liriodendron tulipifera)
Francis Gray, Chairman of the Piscataway Conoy Tribal Council, Jared Littmann, Mayor of the City of Annapolis, Karen Theimer Brown, President and CEO of Historic Annapolis, dignitaries, historians, and proud citizens were there to acknowledge the symbolic place the Liberty Tree had and has in our state and national history.
But let’s go back and take a look at that history—the Liberty Tree, and particularly Annapolis’ Liberty Tree in the context of the 250th anniversary of the founding of our United States.
Before the American Revolution large trees served as meeting sites where patriots protested British actions. After independence, Maryland’s Liberty Tree, a mature Tulip Poplar, continued to be an important landmark for Annapolis and for St. John’s College, which, from 1929, held graduation in its shade. In September 1999, this last surviving Liberty Tree was fatally damaged by a hurricane. It’s age was estimated to be about 700 years old. Photographs courtesy St. John’s College.
Our Liberty Tree’s Past
The first of what came to be known as “The Liberty Trees” was a great Elm in central Boston. The beauty of the tree and its central location made it a popular meeting place to discuss matters of importance to the Colonists. They gathered beneath the tree to buy and sell property, plan for the growth of their thriving city, and deal with matters related to the British colony of Massachusetts. In 1765, from Boston’s Liberty Tree hung the effigy of Andrew Oliver, appointed to collect taxes and distribute stamps when England passed the hated Stamp Act. Colonists were told that this stamp tax on any paper item would cover the costs of housing the British troops garrisoned in their town! “Taxation without representation.” Boston’s angry response led to Oliver’s resignation. For the next turbulent nine years, “The Liberty Tree” spread its protection over meetings of the “Sons of Liberty.” In retribution the British army, when it occupied Boston, chopped down the great Elm of liberty. Like a flame of patriotism, word of this desecration spread throughout the colonies. Soon, Patriots had designated Liberty Trees in all the colonies and battle flags were designed with the Liberty Tree as central icon.
In Annapolis, Patriots had been meeting under a great Tulip Poplar for over 100 years. In Katherine Brodt’s essay “The Legacy of the Annapolis Liberty Tree,” she points out that Annapolis was never occupied by the British army and thus Maryland’s great Liberty Tree remained unharmed throughout the Revolution. Founding fathers Willima Paca and Samuel Chase were among those who addressed colonists beneath the tree. Thomas Paine, revolutionary and author of Common Sense, penned what became a popular marching song, “The Liberty Tree.”
Generals George Washington and the Marquis Lafayette met beneath the Annapolis Liberty Tree, and, according to historians at St. John’s College, 4,000 French soldiers camped near the tree and College Creek on the way to fight at Yorktown. General Washington rode past the Liberty Tree on the way to resign his commission as head of the Continental Army in 1783. Some say the great Poplar sighed and bowed its limbs in tribute to the wise and brave commander.
The Marquis returned to Annapolis in 1824 for festivities honoring the French nation’s and his personal sacrifices on behalf of the United States. Lafayette stood on the College Green, beneath the Liberty Tree to review the troops.
Historians note that the sparks that ignited the French Revolution (1789–1799) came, in part, as French soldiers, returning from fighting for the Colonies’ freedom from British rule, spread the desire for freedom and independence from a king and aristocracy. Thousands of “Liberty Trees” were planted across France.
St. John’s College took on the care and protection of the Annapolis Liberty Tree in 1784 when the tree became part of the college’s grounds. The great tree was, by then, almost 100 feet tall, spreading its branches as wide (approximately 100 feet) as it was tall. It stood nobly atop a rise, between St. John’s Great Hall and the State Capitol.
For the next 50 years the Liberty Tree stood undisturbed. Eventually, the great poplar did have a few misadventures. In 1840 “schoolboys” purportedly setoff several pounds of gunpowder inside a hollow in the tree. Annapolitans feared the tree would die, but in the spring it awoke lush and proud. It seems the explosion and heat killed an infestation of worms that had been damaging the tree’s core. Another apocryphal adventure of our Liberty Tree was recounted by Elihu S. Riley in his history of Annapolis, The Ancient City. A fire began, accidentally, in the tree’s hollowed core. Riley asserts that the city’s residents rushed out to extinguish the fire and save the great tree, “as if it [the Liberty Tree] had been one of the finest buildings of the town.”
In 1880, St. John’s arborist created a scion, a cutting from the Tulip Poplar that carried the same genetic code as the parent tree; that cutting was grafted onto a host tree, and eventually seedlings from that scion and from the great Liberty Tree itself would be used to propagate new, healthy trees.
Ah, but the grand tree’s travails weren’t over. The recurring damage to the cavity of the great tree had left it weakened and unlikely to survive. In 1907 “surgery” was done on the Liberty Tree. Arborists scraped and cleaned the tree’s heart, removing the decay up to 56 feet above the ground and down among the roots. Some sort of “antiseptic wash” was applied, and then the tree’s cavity was filled with concrete, steel, and iron. Eventually, the exterior gash was boarded up.
And so, our Liberty Tree stood, scarred but unbowed, for another 92 years. Ours was the last surviving of the 13 original Liberty Trees, designated by the Colonies and the “Sons of Liberty.” During that time seedlings and scions were gathered and nurtured, presented when they were saplings, to various dignitaries and communities across Maryland.
In 1999, Hurricane Floyd decimated Annapolis. Flooding and high winds damaged and destroyed historically important buildings and…the great Liberty Tree. After the storm had passed and recovery efforts were underway, the State, the City, and arborists called in to advise determined that the ancient Tulip Poplar, the last surviving Liberty Tree, was no longer viable. The tree had to be felled.
In 1880, St. John’s arborist created a scion that carried the same genetic code as the parent tree. Eventually seedlings from that scion and from the great Liberty Tree itself would be used to propagate new, healthy trees. Four offspring of the Liberty Tree grow where the public can admire them. Two are on the Green at St. John’s College. The third of Annapolis’ “Liberty Trees,” flourishes near the recently restored Old Treasury Building. The fourth sapling was recently dedicated in honor of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding at the William Paca House.
Providence Forum, an organization honoring the founding of the United States, purchased some of the wood from the ancient tree. Artist Eugene Landon sculptured an American Bald Eagle that was later donated to the Philadelphia National Constitution Center.
Additionally, three crosses carved from the Liberty Tree were presented: one to Brick Chapel in St. Mary’s City, another to Pope Francis in Rome, and one to Prince (now King) Charles in Great Britian. (No hard feelings, we hope.)
Some of the wood was given to Maryland’s own Taylor Guitars. From the felled limbs, 411 “Liberty Tree Guitars” were produced, along with 407 “Liberty Tree Baby Taylors” and a few specialty instruments. In total, the Liberty Tree’s wood is making music in 875 exceptional guitars.
Karen Theimer Brown, President and CEO of Historic Annapolis, speaks during the March 25th Liberty Tree planting ceremony. Photograph by Laura Wiegmann.
The Present
Maryland’s own Taylor Guitars acquired felled limbs from the original Liberty Tree. From them, 411 “Liberty Tree Guitars” were produced, along with 407 “Liberty Tree Baby Taylors.” Photograph courtesy Taylor Guitars.
Today, Annapolis has four offspring of that grand Liberty Tree growing where the public can admire them. Two are on the Green at St. John’s College, not far from where their ancestor stood. In 1889, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of St. John’s College, a scion of the parent tree was planted in the same section of the college green. It stands, proud and strong 127 years old, a large plaque affixed to its trunk.
The second of the Liberty Tree’s Annapolis saplings was planted on St. John’s Green and dedicated by the Graduating Class of 2007. It too flourishes, and its roots mingle with its sibling. In 2017, the Providence Forum in conjunction with Maryland’s State House, planted a scion in honor of their Silver Anniversary. This youngster, the third of Annapolis’ “Liberty Trees,” flourishes near the recently restored Old Treasury Building.
State and local dignitaries symbolically plant the Liberty Tree sapling on the grounds of the William Paca House in Annapolis on March 25. Photograph by Laura Wiegmann.
And the fourth sapling has been dedicated in honor of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. The Georgian mansion, new home to this Liberty Tree sapling, was built in the 1760s by William Paca, signer of the Declaration of Independence. How fitting that a Liberty Tree will flourish in the courtyard of the home he built. By signing the Declaration of Independence, William Paca placed not only his life, but his family and his home in jeopardy. Had the Sons of Freedom lost the war for independence, the Signers’ lives and property would have been forfeited.
The Liberty Tree’s Future
The future of the Liberty Trees of Maryland looks bright. The Department of Natural Resources Forestry Service is engaged in the “5 Million Trees Project.” The goal is to restore our nation’s tree canopy by planting five million trees across the continent. In that context, each of the 23 counties in Maryland is provided with at least one sapling as part of the State’s own “Liberty Tree Project.”
Ashley Triplett-Peltzman begins the planting of the Liberty Tree sapling at the March 25th ceremony. Photography by Laura Wiegmann.
In an effort to keep track of the great, ancient trees in Maryland, The Big Tree Program (mdbigtreeprogram@aol.com ) documented 292 trees that were alive at the time of the American Revolution. You can peruse the list on-line at the DNR’s “Bicentennial Trees” project: Dnr.maryland.gov/forest/documents/bicentennial trees.pdf
And there the future lies, preserving the grand and beautiful values represented by these trees in Maryland and nurturing the young and resilient Marylanders and their trees.
Thomas Paine summarized the important role of the Liberty Trees for the Sons of Freedom:
For freemen like brothers agree;
With one spirit endured,
They one friendship pursued,
And their temple was Liberty Tree.
