Historical Name: Annapolis Liberty Tree
Common Name: Tulip Poplar
Latin Name: Liriodendron tulipifera
The original Liberty Tree (1646-1775) was an American Elm that grew in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1765 the tree began serving as a symbol of defiance against the British government and became a meeting place for American colonists protesting British taxes and other injustices. In 1775, British soldiers and Loyalists cut the tree down.
Not long thereafter, other towns throughout the colonies designated trees as their own Liberty Trees to continue the protests against Britain. The last survivor of these Liberty Trees, a Tulip Poplar growing on the grounds of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland had to be removed in 1999 after Hurricane Floyd damaged the already ailing 400 year old tree. Prior to its demise, the Annapolis Liberty Tree was cloned by grafting. UCNJ acquired a small one of the grafted trees, and after spending several years in the college’s Historic Tree Nursery it was planted into the Historic Tree Grove in 2021 to perpetuate the legacy of Liberty Trees in our country.