Wye Oak

The Wye Oak was the honorary state tree of Maryland, and the largest white oak tree in the United States. Located in the town of Wye Mills, in Talbot County, Maryland, the Wye Oak was believed to be over 460 years old at the time of its destruction during a severe thunderstorm on June 6, 2002, and measured 31 feet 10 inches (970 cm) in circumference of the trunk, 96 feet (29 m) in height, with a crown spread of 119 feet (36 m).For years, its sprawling limbs were carefully held together with cables.

The Wye Oak first drew the attention of the public in 1909, when Fred W. Besley, the first Maryland State Forester, made the first official measurement of the tree. Ten years later, in 1919, it was featured in "American Forester" magazine. In 1939, the Maryland General Assembly purchased the tree and almost 30 acres (121,000 m²) surrounding it and established the Wye Oak State Park. In 1940, the American Forestry Association named the Wye Oak one of its first National Champion Trees. By the time of its destruction 62 years later, only one other tree named that year remained standing.

Dr. Frank Gouin, Professor Emeritus of Horticulture at the University of Maryland, College Park, impressed both by the age and size of the tree, as well as its unusual resistance to oak wilt fungus and the gypsy moth, led a successful effort to clone the Wye Oak. The first two cloned saplings were planted at Mount Vernon on April 26, 2002.

The site of the Wye Oak remains largely untouched, and the descriptive plaque placed there in 1921 remains at the site. Next to the site of the tree, and also maintained as part Wye Oak State Park, is a one-room brick schoolhouse hailing from the colonial period. It is the second oldest schoolhouse in Talbot County.

With the demise of the Wye Oak, the Linden Oak in North Bethesda, Maryland, is now the largest white oak tree in the U.S. (It is located beside the junction of Rockville Pike and Rock Creek Park's Beach Drive, and when the Washington Metro was constructed, a special curve was added to the tracks in order to protect the tree.)

Wood from the destroyed tree was used to build a new desk for the Governor's office. [http://web.hws.edu/news/update/showwebclip.asp?webclipid=1830]

External links

* [http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/eastern/wyeoak.html Wye Oak State Park]
* [http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/images1/wye.html The Maryland Wye Oak (National Agricultural Library)]