The largest white oak tree in Montgomery County long towered over the narrow path at Beach Drive and Rockville Pike. At its prime, it stood more than 95 feet tall and spread its majestic crown across the length of nearly half a football field.
Maryland
One of Maryland’s oldest trees will be turned into a sculpture
But the tree that stood tall for decades will soon vanish.
The tree, which arborists say died last summer, declined in health causing its beauty and glory days to slowly fade. A side of its trunk is rotting and the tree has lost several limbs and a major branch.
Montgomery Parks will remove the tree this month after the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission granted its approval on June 21 to avoid a public hazard.
According to Colter Burkes, the senior urban forester at Montgomery Parks, a chain saw artist will transform the tree into a sculpture.
“We were going to carve the tree onsite but it’s a remote location, people don’t really go down there. Tentatively, we’re going to move it to the Ken-Gar local park, which isn’t too far. It’s in the same valley park as the Linden Oak,” Burkes said.
The area where the Linden Oak stands along the intersection of Rockville Pike was once open land. Deer, buffalo, bear and wild turkey inhabited the forested area unrestricted, according to the Montgomery Historical Society. Fish swam through rivers and streams flowing throughout the land.
With the arrival of European settlers, much of the forest that had been in possession of the Piscataway Confederation was cleared to grow tobacco, food and build log cabins, according to the Montgomery Historical Society.
In 1976, 200 years after the signing of Declaration of Independence, the Linden Oak tree was named a Montgomery County bicentennial tree. The Bicentennial Tree Project was undertaken by the Maryland Bicentennial Commission, which collaborated with foresters to document trees that were estimated to be alive during the birth of America.
According to John Bennett, the chair of the Maryland Big Tree Program, not every bicentennial tree was granted a badge of honor.
The “legislature said we’re not going to give a plaque to every tree. We will give each county one bronze plaque. The Linden Oak was the biggest white oak and bicentennial tree in Montgomery County. That was the one that got the plaque,” Bennett said.
Kevin Conrad, acting supervisory horticulturist at the National Arboretum, believes the white oak is exceptional.
“I think what separates the white oak from several of the native oak is how beautiful it is as it ages and matures. The leaf is very unique. The shape has a characteristic unlike many of the other species. The exfoliating bark component is also very ornamental,” Conrad said.
For decades, passing pedestrians, bikers and cars may not have noticed the treasure rooted in North Bethesda. But the Linden Oak drew wide attention in the early 1970s when the development of the Metro threatened its life. The Montgomery County Council fought to have the Metro construction realigned to avoid harming the tree at the cost of $2 million, according to the Maryland Historical Trust.
For decades the Linden Oak tree flourished as the Montgomery County champion tree from 1976 to 2022, a title given to the largest known white oak tree in the county.
But that title was threatened when the tree lost a major limb.
“I received a call from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation telling me since the Linden Oak was no longer the county champion, the county wanted to take it down and pave over that area to improve that intersection,” said Joli McCathran, vice chair of the Maryland Big Tree Program.
With an ordinary tree, the loss of a limb would likely reduce the stature of a tree, but the Linden Oak retained its long-lasting title. McCathran and her colleague Joe Howard, a member of the county’s forestry board, went to check the stats again.
“Thank goodness Joe and I had remeasured just a few days before,” McCathran said. “I informed the employee that it was still the Montgomery County champion even though it had lost a major limb. I have not ever heard from him again.”
Through it all, the largest white oak tree in Montgomery County was relentless, but like humans, a tree can only bear so much. According to Conrad, oak trees can live for hundreds of years if they’re able to thrive in their natural habitat, undisturbed by an innovative environment. Once a tree’s roots are disrupted by construction, it can lead to long-term effects.
When Conrad was told that the Linden Oak tree was rooted on the side of the road, he blatantly said, “it’s doomed.”
“I don’t know the tree, but in my imagination, if it’s by an interstate, then it’s getting a lot of pollutants. It could be that the tree was able to sustain the compaction that the road caused for a while, but because of the inability for it to develop an extensive root system, it has declined,” said Conrad.
“You could probably go back in time and see the decline start to take place, but it just takes a long time for an old tree like that to finally give up and die.”
The tree is expected to be removed in coming weeks. The trunk will stay in place, along with two memorial plaques. One of them reads: “It stood its ground, survived the American Revolution and continues to serve an appreciative nation.”