\n\t\tGreen Spaces\n\t<\/h2>\n\n\t\tWashington Elm\n\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/bratenahlhistorical.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/The-Washington-Elm.jpg\" "\\"Washington")
\n\t\tThe Washington Elm\n\t
\n\t\tThe Washington Elm\n\t\n\t\tThe Washington Elm\n\tOn the morning of July 3, 1775, at Cambridge Commons in Massachusetts, George Washington formally assumed command of the Continental Army.\u00a0 Towering over the ceremony was a giant elm tree, forever after identified as the \u201cWashington Elm.\u201d\u00a0 The tree was nearly 100 feet in height with a trunk circumference of 18 feet and a spread of branches of over 90 feet.\u00a0 For almost 150 years after the ceremony, the Washington Elm supplied shade to those who visited the commons. Then, on October 26, 1923, old age and the ravages of the leopard moth and elm-leaf beetle so weakened the tree that it fell to the ground.\u00a0 At the time, the Cambridge Parks Department examined the tree rings and determined the tree was approximately 220 years old.\u00a0 The Washington Elm would have been about 70 years old in 1775.<\/p>\n\t
The Washington Elm lived on, however, because a noted horticulturist, Jackson Dawson, grafted a branch of the old and dying tree and saved it for posterity.\u00a0 T.D. Hatfield nurtured the original graft and planted it on the grounds of the public library in Wellesley, Massachusetts.\u00a0 In 1925, William Judd for the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, grafted four scions from the Wellesley Elm, two of which given to the Kelsey-Highlands Arboretum in Highlands, New Jersey.\u00a0 Kelsey-Highlands grafted and raised one hundred descendants from the original Washington Elm and distributed them across the country.<\/p>\n
One of the elms from Kelsey-Highlands made its way to Bratenahl and planted on the front lawn of the Bratenahl School at 10300 Brighton Road on the 200th<\/sup> anniversary of George Washington\u2019s birth, February 22, 1932.\u00a0 The tree was donated to the Village by Charles F. Irish, a noted Bratenahl arborist and a nationally-recognized authority on the care of shade trees.\u00a0 The tree came with a certificate of authenticity dated November 3, 1931, and identified as \u201cElm No. 65, a direct descendent of the Washington Elm that stood on Cambridge Common, the tree under which General George Washington took command of the first American Army.\u201d\u00a0 Irish planned the gift as a memorial to George Washington.<\/p>\n On April 26, 1968, a plaque was placed on the tree, memorializing its unique history.\u00a0 Unfortunately, like many similar trees, Bratenahl\u2019s Washington Elm could not survive the same infestation of elm beetles that claimed its ancestor.\u00a0 Bratenahl\u2019s Washington Elm had to eventually be cut down.<\/p>\n Although gone, a slab from the tree remains and is on display outside the Bratenahl Historical Society at 10300 Brighton Road, along with the original certificate verifying the authenticity of the tree slab as part of the history of the Washington Elm.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBack to Places\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSee list\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Places Green Spaces Washington Elm The Washington Elm On the morning of July 3, 1775, at Cambridge Commons in Massachusetts, George Washington formally assumed command of the Continental Army.\u00a0 Towering over the ceremony was a giant elm tree, forever after identified as the \u201cWashington Elm.\u201d\u00a0 The tree was nearly 100 feet in height with a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n