The Story
A Gift from Washington to Brown
General Robert Brown served in the Revolutionary War militia alongside George Washington. In 1785, Colonel Henry Lee presented Washington with twelve European Horse Chestnut saplings. Washington gave two of the saplings to General Brown, whose property in East Allen Township became home to one of these trees for over 168 years.
The Tree at Its Peak
“One of the Largest of Its Kind in America”
By 1920, the tree had grown to 80 feet tall with a base circumference of 27.5 feet. Charles Sprague Sargent, director of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, visited in 1921 and declared it “one of the largest and oldest trees of its kind in America.”
1928 — Legacy Preserved
870 Chestnuts, Distributed to the World
In 1928, Barbara Bayne collected 870 chestnuts from the Friendship Tree, grouped into symbolic packages of 13 (one for each original colony). These were distributed to President Coolidge, all 48 state governors, world ambassadors, and state universities with the goal of establishing “Friendship Groves throughout the world.”
“One of the largest and oldest trees of its kind in America.”
Charles Sprague Sargent, Arnold Arboretum, 1921
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Hey it's the friendship-tree.. - Marc J
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