Decatur’s Notable Trees
Decatur Metro | December 21, 2010 | 3:06 pm
While ranking other people based solely on appearance is generally frowned upon in most circles these days, the ranking of trees – by age and size – is a perfectly acceptable way of celebrating of our leafy friends.
News has been slowly blowing around town over the past couple weeks that resident Neil Norton got a White Oak over by the post office onto the Georgia Urban Forest Council’s Landmark and Historic Tree Register. City Planner Amanda Thompson brought it to the City Commission’s attention during their last meeting and the DNO posted a nice follow up a few days later.
This got me thinkin': what and where are Decatur’s other trees of note? Turns out there are quite a few all over the city.
First, there are three other Decatur trees on the Georgia Urban Forest Council’s list, all at Agnes Scott.
There’s “Professor Dieckmann’s Magnolias”, planted by the long-time ASC professor back around 1905 where while walking one day, “took them [magnolia seeds] up with his pocketknife,” and planted them in front of Rebekah Scott Hall.”
There’s the “Battle of Decatur” White Ash, that “dates back to 1854. “The Battle of Decatur, the eastern front of the fateful Battle of Atlanta, was fought on this very spot ten years later.”
And then there’s the “Mystery Incense Ash”, the oldest and most – well – mysterious of the three trees.
According to the GUFC, its quite uncommon to find incense cedars on the East Coast and there are many interesting hypotheses as to how this tree found a home at ASC. One is that it was “not uncommon at that time for a prosperous land-owner to purchase interesting horticultural specimens from ships in port in Savannah or Charleston.” Another is that it’s a survivor of a trial-run of incense cedars on the East Coast, and it was ultimately determined that the red cedar was better suited. Another is that the tree was planted by Spanish explorers traveling up the East Coast. And perhaps the most far-fetched theory is that it was brought from the West Coast by a gold miner on their way to Dahlonega gold mines
There are also TWO Georgia Forestry Commission “Champion Trees” inside Decatur proper. “Champion Trees” are the the largest known tree of a particular species in the state. In Decatur, there’s a Boxelder tree with no address, along with a Horsechestnut tree on the property of the Decatur Rec Center (pic above).
And finally, on the Trees Atlanta’s “Champion Tree” list (largest known inside I-285) is the Poplar Tulip tree at 1234 Clairemont Road, one of the highest scoring trees ever judged by Tress Atlanta in terms of “Big Tree Points”.
Congratulations to all our honored trees! It wouldn’t be Decatur without ya!
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Someone should start a tour of trees.
I’d love a walking tour of big trees in Decatur.
Me, too.
The biggest Cedar of Lebanon is at the corner of Eastlake and Fayetville rd just south of the Oakhurst Buisness district. Eli above was working with a friend to put the Trees Atlanta largest trees on a google earth map. They have added a ton of the trees they have found as well. Great work.
Agnes scott has a walking tour and had a book to go with it. Jim Abbot a professor at Agnes Scott is leading a student and teacher effort to revise their arboretum with some unique additions.
Trees Atlanta has a tree walk in the Oakhurst Arboretum. We have not re-printed the map but have it on our website. Over 100 trees have granite markers as well.
Greg
Some time ago, Decatur published a self-guided walking tour flyer with history and commentary of “old” trees in the city. Perhaps someone from the city would comment. Having a published or online guide of this sort would be a definite plus for all.
There is a tree tour in Oakhurst. A few years ago, Trees Atlanta installed some granite markers identifying particular trees in the neighborhood. It actually may be all over Decatur, I’m not sure. If Greg Levine or Cheryl K. is listening, maybe they can offer more info.
The tallest known flowering dogwood in the country is located at the Woodlands Garden in Decatur as well. It’s a whopping 56′ tall! They’ve also got the city champion Bigleaf Magnolia and Devil’s Walkingstick- both quite impressive.
I’d be happy to help co-lead big tree walks if anyone is interested.
…I’m actually the guy in the picture above