Click the title of each tree to see more details and photos of the trees.
This grove of mixed trees species was started as a memorial for Oregon members of the 10th Mountain Division who fought in Italy during WWII. They were the only US Army Division trained in mountain warfare and were trained to fight on skis.
In 1996 the first tree in this memorial grove was planted. The grove …
Populus tremuloides
The carvings on the trees in this aspen grove are called “arborglyphs.” Most of the arborglyphs here were carved by Basque sheepherders who worked the top of the Steens Mountain in the early-to-middle 20th century.
These historic carvings were lightly etched into the bark to make notes about the sheep and leave drawings or as a means …
James and Elizabeth Baker were among the first Oregon Trail emigrants to settle in Eastern Oregon. They traveled from Iowa in 1862 and were one of the original five families to settle in what is now the City of La Grande.
La Grande was a treeless prairie when they arrived. James Baker was known as a …
Andrew J. Baker, who arrived in the Oregon Territory in 1843 as part of the Great Migration, planted the black walnut in 1870 next to his house, built in 1852. The house, which still stands at this site, was used as a stage coach stop in the late 1800s. The property was purchased in 1899 …
Acer macrophyllum
Two bigleaf maple trees stand on each side of a replica tollgate that marks the western-most and last tollgate to operate on the Barlow Road — the branch of the Oregon Trail that crossed the southern flank of Mt Hood. The original tollgate was in operation on this site from 1879 until 1915, and …
Juglans nigra
In 1863, on this site, Robert Vinton Beall, an Oregon Trail pioneer and relative to four Maryland governors, built one of the first frame buildings in Jackson County, a Gothic Revival house that is listed on the National Historic Register.
Beall and his brother Thomas were eventually to become Jackson County’s most prosperous farmers. In …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
This giant sequoia was found as a seedling tree along the railroad tracks by Sister Protasia Schindler in 1893. She planted it in front of the Queen of Angels Monastery to give some life to the grounds. Not knowing what type of tree it was, nor how large it could grow, her tree has …
Pinus ponderosa
This majestic pine is the biggest of its species ever recorded. It was a giant before the Oregon Territory was established, enduring centuries of fire, insects, disease, and human impact. Recently half of its crown was lost to weather, making another Ponderosa pine taller, but “Big Tree” remains the largest in circumference.
Tree facts
Approx. height: …
Sequoia sempervirens
This Coast Redwood was planted in 1992 at the site of the only Japanese aerial bombing of the continental United States on September 9, 1942. The tree was planted by the pilot of the submarine-delivered reconnaissance plane, Flight Officer Nobuo Fujita. The bombing of the continental United States was in retaliation for the Doolittle …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
On March 22, 1862, the day of his son Emil’s birth, Peter Britt planted this Giant Sequoia by his home. Britt was a pioneer photographer, skilled horticulturist, and leader in Southern Oregon’s lucrative fruit industry. From its vantage point, this majestic tree has witnessed the unfolding of Jacksonville’s rich history — the gold rush …
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Native to Oregon, this unique tree’s bark and wood are legendary for its hardiness and resistance to the elements. This species has a small range, most of which is in southwest Oregon. Port Orford cedar’s bounty was shared by indigenous peoples and commercial entrepreneurs alike. Iconic Port Orford cedar siding on many old structures …
Captain George Flavel was a noted bar pilot and entrepreneur in Clatsop County. His piloting business and other investments helped in the development of Astoria. Flavel’s 1886 Queen Anne style house now stands as a historical museum, inseparable from the beautiful landscaping that surrounds it.
The Captain Flavel Trees are nine trees originally planted by the …
Ulmus americana
This tree was given to Douglas County by Binger Hermann. Hermann served in the U.S. Congress from 1885 until 1897, and again from 1903 until 1907. During the intervening years, he was Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. The occasion for the tree donation is not known positively, but research suggests …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
The majestic trees that grace the grounds of the Washington County Courthouse were planted in 1880 as three year old seedlings by pioneer nurseryman John R. Porter. The Porter family came west to Oregon, from Ohio, in 1847. John Porter developed an interest in trees and started a nursery on his farm. When word …
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Although it is now known that Dawn Redwoods graced the landscape of the world’s northern temperate regions during the time of the dinosaurs (Late Cretateous), fossils of this species were first discovered in 1941 in Japan. At that time the tree was believed to have been long extinct. But in 1944, live trees were …
Corylus avellana
The first commercial-sized planting of hazelnuts in Oregon were made by George Dorris in 1905 when he planted his 5 acres for nut production and sold the nuts to an innovative company called Meier and Frank who in turn sold directly to consumers in ten-pound bags. Dorris also started a hazelnut nursery on the …
Malus domestica
Reverend Albert Kelly planted an orchard here on his homestead in 1850. The trees were bought from the pioneer Luelling and Meek Nursery in Milwaukie- the first grafted fruit tree nursery on the west coast.
Colonel Henry E. Dosch purchased the property in 1886-87 and restored the health of the neglected orchard. In 1976, the …
Joseph Caples with his three children crossed the Oregon Trail in 1844 and in 1846 claimed 320 acres on the site that is now Columbia City. Joseph built his log cabin from timber cut and stacked by the Hudson Bay Company who had intended to build a fort on the site. Charles, the oldest child, …
Quercus garryana
Ewing Young, fur trapper and trader in the Southwest and Mexico, turned settler in the Chehalem Valley in 1834. He was the first American settler in the Oregon Country who was independent of aid from the Hudson’s Bay Company. His death on February 15, 1841, left considerable property and no heirs. This problem created …
Syringa vulgaris
The original start of this lilac was brought from Maine to Oregon in 1843 by Mary Charlotte Foster, wife of Philip Foster, partner with Sam Barlow on the Barlow Road. The Fosters sailed around Cape Horn and Mary Charlotte planted the lilac immediately upon her arrival in Oregon City. She moved it five times, …
Thuja plicata
This grove of western red cedars was planted in 1934, the first of hundreds of tree plantings organized by Lockyear in a life dedicated to reforestation.
Lockyear lead Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other youth organizations in making many major tree plantings throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 1973 he founded the non-profit ReTree International to …
Picea sitchensis
Half a century before Christopher Columbus sailed to the America’s, a tiny Sitka spruce began its life nourished by a nurse log on the Oregon coast. Today, it is the largest and oldest tree in the Cap Perpetua Scenic Area of the Siuslaw National Forest. Nearly 600 years old, it stands over 185 feet …
Sequoia giganteum
James Withycombe served as Oregon’s governor from 1914 until his death in 1919. He was one of only two foreign-born Oregon governors. Born in Tavistock, England, he came to Oregon with his parents in 1871 at 17 years of age. He purchased a farm two years later and married Isabel Carpenter on June 5, …
Acer palmatum
This Greenleaf Japanese Maple was planted by Governor Tom McCall in late 1973 or early 1974 during his second term of office. McCall is remembered for many enviornmental achievements, such as the “Beach Bill” which granted the state government the power to zone Oregon’s beaches, thus protecting them from private development, and the “Bottle …
Pyrus communis
This pear tree is one of the oldest and largest in Oregon and was planted by the pioneer Munkre family who came over the Oregon Trail in 1846. It is the lone survivor of a large pear orchard later known as Hager Grove and a popular creek side picnic and camping area. Still in …
Salix babylonica
In 1860, Martha Hanley planted this weeping willow to commemorate the birth of her son. The willow cutting was obtained from the pioneer Luelling Nursery in the Willamette Valley and delivered by Martha’s friend Kit Kearney, an express rider, who stuck it in a potato to keep it from drying out. The tree flourished …
Pyrus communis
This small grove of Comice pear trees are the only remaining of an original planting known as Harry & David Bear Creek Orchards Block 1A. Harry & David corporation became internationally renowned in 1932 when they began marketing their gift boxes of pears to the rich and famous. While most pear growers were hurt …
Juglans hindsii
This tree is notable for its size, age and that it is not native to Oregon. Its location was a probable Indian camping and fishing ground where migrating salmon were abundant and accessible. It predates the arrival of settlers and may have sprouted from a cast-off nut.
Tree Facts
Approx. height: 103′
Age: 250+ years
Circumference: 20′
Dedicated on: …
Pyrus communis
Called a Winter Nelis, or Winter Pear, this tree was planted in 1879 by Jesse Edwards, the Quaker founder of Newberg. This property was sold in 1884 to Dr. Henry John Minthorn, uncle and foster father of Herbert Hoover.
When the 11 year old Hoover arrived here from Iowa in 1885 to live with his …
Pinus ponderosa
Large oval scars on these ponderosa pines give lasting evidence of the traditional spring camp of the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) people. In the early spring, the Nimiipuu would peel the outer bark, using the cambium layer as supplemental food and perhaps as medicine and weaving fibers. These scars were made in the late 1800′s …
Ulmus americana
In 1912, Belle and Ralph Jenkins purchased what is now the Jenkins Estate, Belle, the daughter of a porminent Portland businessman, Capt. J.C. Ainsworth, planted the Elm grove between the original farmhouse and the main house in the style of an old English Estate. American elms were a popular street tree in the early …
Carya ovata
Mary Louisa Black planted this shagbark hickory near her home in 1866 from nuts she carried from Missouri on the Oregon Trail in 1865. Of the nuts she planted, two grew into trees, This tree is the lone survivor of snow, summer heat and Rogue River flooding and the only shagbark hickory in the …
Pinus ponderosa
The scars on this Ponderosa pine are the remaining evidence of Japanese bomb fragments, since chopped out, that hit the tree in World War II. In 1943, six thousand balloon bombs were launched by the Japanese, traveling the jet stream wind current over 6200 miles to their destination along our west coast. In 1945, …
Cupressus macrocarpa
Seeds for this non-native tree were brought here by an unknown settler, but this particular tree was transplanted to its present location by Harrison Blake when he built his house in the 1850′s. Although this tree was surpassed in 1996 as the largest of its species in the nation, it still holds that distinction …
Pseudotsuga menziesii
This Rocky Mountain Douglas fir was raised from a seed carried to the moon by Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa in 1971.
The story begins in 1953 when a man named Stuart Roosa, a native of Oklahoma, took a job as a US Forest Service smokejumper, a firefighter who would parachute into the wilderness to …
Castanea sativa
The Nyberg Chestnut was part of a 150 tree mixed orchard that was planted around 1903 and owned by John Nyberg, an immigrant from Sweden. When Interstate 5 was being built, the Nyberg home and orchard were located on the highway right-of-way and had to be moved and most of the orchard was destroyed. …
Picea sitchensis
The forces that shaped this unique Sitka Spruce (Picea sitschensis) have been debated for many years. Whether natural events or possibly Native Americans were the cause remains a mystery.
The tree measures more than 14 feet across at its base and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally as much as 30 feet before …
Prunus avium
Folklore is that this tree was planted in 1847 by Eugene Skinner, co-founder of the City of Eugene in 1853. The tree is within the boundaries of Skinner’s 1850 Donation Land Claim. The General Land Office Survey of 1853 puts a cultivated area very close to this tree. It is known that Skinner had …
Pseudotsuga menziesii
Early settlers in the “old town” area of Lake Oswego used this giant Douglas-fir as their lantern post by hanging a lantern on a peg driven into the side of the tree to conduct town meetings. In 1852, Oswego’s first Sunday school classes were held under the Peg Tree until a proper building could …
Acer macrophyllum
This bigleaf maple is believed to have been a meeting place for local Native Americans since time immemorial, leading to its traditional name.
The Pow-Wow Tree has been the site of many notable events, including the first Clackamas County Fair in 1860, the first Oregon State Fair in 1861, and the Gladstone Pow-Wow Festival in …
Populus trichocarpa
This black cottonwood is prominent in photographs taken in 1900 and 1901 to document where the vote for a Provisional Government in Oregon took place. Francis X. Matthieu, the last living participant of the 1843 vote, is shown setting the location of this site in 1900 and unveiling the monument here in the ceremony …
Populus trichocarpa
The Riding Whip Tree, as it became known, grew from a black cottonwood riding switch that was stuck in the ground by fifteen-year-old Florinda Geer in 1854 after returning from a horse ride with her uncle. The stripling took root and today stands as a massive monument to the early settlers of the Waldo …
Carya ovata
This tree sits on property settled in 1868 by W.S. Frazier, the founder of Milton, Oregon. The Frazier family carried hickory nuts along the Oregon Trail from their home in Texas. The nuts were planted shortly after their arrival and one grew to be a magnificent tree that is stunning for beauty and unusual …
Quercus garryana
The Signature Oak at The Oregon Garden is the oldest and largest tree in a grove of Oregon white oaks that predates settlement of the Willamette Valley by European immigrants and their descendents. The latest native inhabitants of the region were the Santiam group of the Kalapuyan tribe. Native people in the region depended …
Acer saccharinum
This Silver maple, remarkable for its age and size, was planted around 1875 to provide shade for the adjacent log cabin. This historic cabin served as the store for the pioneer-era stagecoach stop that operated here for many years. The tree has enhanced the grounds of Seven Oaks Farm providing shade and respite to …
Picea sitchensis
This is the first tree to be designated an official Oregon Heritage Tree and was once the biggest tree in Oregon and the National Co-Champion Sitka Spruce. It germinated from a seed onthe forest floor around the time of the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and grew to its mature height about …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Presented by the class of 1942 to Willamette University on its 100th anniversary, these five giant Sequoias include the tallest of its kind on any college or university campus in the country.
Founded by Jason Lee in 1842, Willamette University is recognized as the oldest university in the west. Since 1997, the campus annually decorates …
Quercus garryana
Dating back for six to ten thousand years before the arrival of Euro-American settlers, Kalapuya Indians lived in the Willamette Valley and relied upon on the valley’s oak groves as source of acorns and other food resources such as camas. The practice of following seasonal rounds to gather food and plant materials led the …
Pseudotsuga menziesii
Between 1949 and 1973, an army of volunteers helped plant an estimated 72 million trees to reforest the Tillamook Burn — one of the largest forest replanting efforts in history. Here, in the area of Cedar Creek Flat, the new forest was planted entirely by school children from Tillamook, Forest Grove and Portland. Students …
The Valley of the Giants is a 51 acre parcel of land containing a stand of old-growth Douglas-fir and hemlock trees many of which are more than 20 feet in circumference and nearly 200 feet tall. Some of the largest trees are between 400 and 450 years old. The largest, blown down in a windstorm …
Acer platanoides
One of the original 250 Norway maple trees planted by volunteers along Spruce Street and “S” Avenue in 1923 to commemorate the end of the First World War and to appreciate the returning veterans. The beautiful tree-lined parkway, known as Victory Way, stretches from downtown to Riverside Park. The planting culminated in a large …
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Judge William Waldo, the son of an 1842 pioneer, planted this sequoia in 1872. Waldo made efforts during his lifetime to preserve the tree and over time others have saved it from the encroaching street system. In 1936 the Salem City Council declared the site, a twelve by twenty foot plot of land, a …
Tsuga mertensiana
On September 13, 1888, after traveling two months along the spine of the Cascade Range, Judge John B. Waldo, Oregon’s foremost nineteenth-century conservationist, and his companions rested at Island Lake and carved their names into the mountain hemlock near the southeast shore of the lake. This trip provided first-hand information for Waldo to use …
Ulmus
This tree has long been identified with Henry H. Wheeler for whom Wheeler County is named. From 1864 through 1868, Wheeler drove the first stagecoach service past this site on The Dalles – Canyon City Wagon Road. In 1866, Wheeler was ambushed near here and severely wounded. A monument dedicated to Wheeler stood by this …
Populus trichocarpa
This giant black cottonwood stands near the site of the Willamette Mission established by Reverend Jason Lee in 1834. At that time, the Mission and tree were located on the banks of the Willamette River. The great flood of 1861 changed the river course to its present channel, leaving what is now Mission Lake. …
Quercus garryanna
This Oregon White Oak reflects the early practice of using landmarks as survey markers for poperty boundaries. With time, these original markers have disappeared. The Witness Tree served as a survey marker for the southeast corner of the Claiborne C. Walker donation Land Claim. The original markings scribed into the tree’s trunk on July …