National Road Heritage Tree

Donated by Gwen and Monroe Harris from the 366-year-old tree that grew at their 356 National Highway Residence

The LaVale National Road Heritage Tree slice is from a white oak tree that grew
along the historic National Road in LaVale, Maryland. This tree, which witnessed centuries
of American history, saw the passage of notable figures such as George Washington and
Abraham Lincoln. It stood along a vital route known as “the road that built the nation,”
experiencing the evolution from Conestoga Wagons to modern automobiles. The tree’s life
began around 1646 and spanned 366 years, during which it survived numerous
challenges, including severe weather events and wildfires.

The tree endured the Little Ice Age, provided habitat for extinct species like the Carolina
parakeet, and witnessed significant historical events. It withstood many adversities until
the Super Derecho of June 29, 2012, severely damaged it, leading to its demise by 2015.
Despite its end, the tree remains a symbol of resilience and historical significance,
commemorating the countless lives and events that passed beneath its branches.

This display, located at the LaVale Library was prepared and funded by LaVale Civic Improvement Association, LaVale Lions Club, and Allegany County Forestry Board.

Story of the LaVale National Road Heritage Tree

Allegany County Forestry Board members sliced this tree cookie from a white oak tree that grew along the National Road in LaVale, Maryland. Many historians consider the National Road “the most historic highway in America,” for it is “the road that built the nation.” For several hundred years, the tree witnessed the passage of thousands upon thousands of hooves, boots, sleigh runners, and wheels of every type, including cannon carriages, Conestoga Wagons, stagecoaches, Model T-Fords, and modern-day automobiles and trucks. 

At least eight presidents and future presidents of the United States passed by this tree, including George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, and Harry Truman. Other historical figures who traveled past this tree were the Marquis de Lafayette, Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Chief Black Hawk, Jenny Lind, Colonel Thomas Cresap, and Captain Michael Cresap. If your ancestors traveled on the National Road…they would have passed under this tree to settle in the Ohio Valley and beyond. 

The seedling germinated about 1646 along an ancient buffalo trace in the primeval forest and likely received nourishment from the dung of a woodland bison. A little more than a decade after the Ark and Dove in 1633 brought Lord Calvert and the first settlers to Maryland, the white oak seedling struggled to establish itself, competing for light, water, and nutrients with other nearby trees and plants. 

Among the other challenges this tree endured in its early life was growing in “the Little Ice Age, which lasted from about 1300 to 1850,” according to the Climate-Science press. Look at the tree rings to see how tight they are during this period. As the tree matured, the Carolina parakeet and passenger pigeon perched on its branches while wolves, elk, mountain lions, and woodland bison walked underneath. All these animals disappeared from the LaVale valley by the late 1800s.

The hardy white oak lived for 366 years, enduring many severe weather events that nature brought, including hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, insect infestations, human encroachment, and wildfires. Note the large scar from a wildfire that the tree survived in the 1880s. 

However, the mighty white oak could not stand up to the Super Derecho that burst through the valley on June 29, 2012. Meteorologists described this storm as one of the “deadliest and most destructive fast-moving severe storm complexes in North American history.” A burst of wind of over 80 mph mortally wounded the tree by shearing off ninety-five percent of its crown, effectively ending its growth, and by 2015, its last remaining branch had stopped producing leaves. One of the last remnants of LaVale’s virgin forest at last died, but this monument marks its long impressive existence.

National Road Heritage Tree Chronology

1753 – Chief Nemacolin (1715- c.1767)
The white oak tree stood witness in 1753 when Nemacolin, the Delaware Chief, assisted Thomas Cresap and Christopher Gist to open an ancient Indian trail known to settlers as the Nemacolin Path, and later called the National Road. Cresap blazed this trail from present-day Cumberland, MD, to Brownsville, PA.

1755 – General Edward Braddock (1695-1755)
During the French and Indian War, General Braddock, British officer and commander-in-chief of the thirteen colonies, with his army of 2,200 soldiers, passed by the tree on their ill-fated mission that resulted in the disastrous Battle of the Monongahela. Daniel Boone and Daniel Morgan were two of Braddock’s waggoneers.

1755 – George Washington (1732-1799)
The future 1st President of the United States passed the tree accompanying General Braddock’s expedition while serving as a volunteer aide-de-camp.

1756 – The naming of Negro Mountain in 1756
A free Black frontiersman, whose name is unfortunately not known, served in Colonel Thomas Cresap’s militia and passed the tree with Cresap’s militia to pursue a group of Indians who killed Cresap’s son, Thomas Cresap Jr., in a skirmish with the Indians. The Black frontiersman fought and saved Cresap’s life. In his honor, the mountain where the skirmish occurred was named Negro Mountain, and is one of western Maryland’s oldest place names.

1784 – Daniel Boone (1734-1820)
This legendary Kentucky explorer passed the tree while transporting ginseng from Kentucky by boat upstream on the Ohio River to Redstone, present Brownsville, PA. From here, Boone transported ginseng on packhorses along the Braddock Road, now the National Road, to Hagerstown, MD.

1823 through 1831 – Sam Houston (1793-1863)
This American Statesman and general traveled on the National Pike on several trips to Washington D.C. from 1823 through 1827 as a Tennessee U.S. Congressman, and in 1829-1831, to represent the Arkansas Cherokee.

1824 through 1825 – Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)
The 7th President of the United States and his wife Rachel traveled on the National Road to represent Tennessee as a Senator in the U.S. Senate.

1827 though 1831 – David Crockett (1786-1836)
The legendary frontiersman, and congressman, of Alamo fame traveled on the National Pike as a Tennessee congressman in the United States House of Representatives.

1833 – Four Mile House Constructed
The Four Mile House, an Inn for travelers on the National Road, was built by Samuel Eckles a few hundred feet west of this tree. The Four Mile House was one of three Mile houses in LaVale and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

1835 – LaVale Toll House Constructed
The last remaining National Pike Toll House in Maryland was constructed at the west end of LaVale so that the State of Maryland could collect “tolls” or fees to maintain the road.

1847 through 1849 – Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
The 16th President of the United States traveled with his wife Mary on the National Road past the tree as an Illinois congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

1910 through 1917 – Electricity Comes to LaVale
Samuel Eckles operated a water powered sawmill on Braddock Run behind the Four Mile House in the 1840’s. Between 1910 and 1917 the mill was retrofitted with water powered dynamos to generate the first electricity for LaVale.

1912 – Annie Oakley (1860 -1926)
The famous sharpshooter and star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show passed by the tree just before or after she had a minor automobile accident on the National Pike near present Green Ridge State Forest. A road crew assisted her. Grateful for their help, Oakley gave a shooting demonstration of her jaw-dropping marksmanship.

1921 – The Vagabonds
Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone passed by the tree while heading to present day Swallow Falls State Park, where they camped for about a week.

1933 – LaVale Volunteer Fire Department
The LaVale Volunteer Fire Department was formed on February 28 and received a certificate of incorporation on July 26, 1933. The first fire truck was a converted Lincoln touring car with, ladder, pump, 200-gallon water tank in place of a back seat, and a motorcycle siren.

1953 – First LaVale Library
On April 18, 1953 the first LaVale Library opened in a room at the LaVale Drug store building and in 1956 moved to its own building across National Highway from the present location.

1957 through 1972 – Shopping Centers and Fast-Food Move to LaVale
Following the national trend for retail businesses to move to suburban strip malls, Burton’s Shopping Center opened in 1957, followed by the LaVale Plaza Shopping Center in 1961. In 1962 Burger Chef and in 1972 McDonald’s opened in LaVale. All were located along the National Road where the mighty white oak continued to stand tall.

1975 – New LaVale Library Opens
On September 28, 1975 the LaVale Library opened in a new building at the present location.

2022 – Remodeled LaVale Library Opens
On September 22, 2022, 7 years after this 366-year-old tree cookie was cut from the mighty LaVale white oak tree, the newly remodeled LaVale Library, where you stand today, reopened.