Credits

Created by Kerry Skiff, Explore Natural Communities Intern Summer 2017, NatureServe. Additional voices by Matt Jones.

Music: Lullaby for Democracy, by Doctor Turtle (freemusicarchive.org). Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0.

Photo: Witness Tree, by Explore Natural Communities Interns 2017, NatureServe. Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0.

References:
"To A Siberian Woodsman" Wendell Berry
Witness Trees
Lifespans of Common Trees in Virginia

Transcript

Podcast time: 2:49 minutes

The oldest Civil War historians you'll encounter here can't speak. They lived through the battles and saw troops march, but haven't told their story. Why? Because they're trees!

Certain species of trees can live to be hundreds of years old. Many oaks, for example, have been dated at more than 500 years old, so it's not surprising that some trees alive today were present at the time of the Civil War, more than 150 years ago. These are called "Witness Trees" because they were present during the pivotal events that happened at these historic sites. 

Trees are more durable than flowers, bushes, or shrubs, but they still need the right conditions to survive for a long time. Each tree has its own needs and requirements. If these are met, and natural disasters, disease, or human disturbances are avoided or overcome, these trees can live for hundreds of years.

Witness trees can be tricky to identify by sight. You might think that the widest, tallest trees in the forest are also the oldest, but witness trees come in many shapes and sizes. Surprisingly, some of the smaller-sized trees can be older than their much larger neighbors. This can happen because of growing conditions over the tree's lifetime, or it can depend on what kind of tree it is. Individual red cedar, sweetgum, American sycamore, shagbark hickory, sugar maple and white oak trees could have lived through the Civil War.

The National Park Service uses many techniques to identify and map witness trees. Photos and maps from the 1800s show where woodlots or tree lines originally stood. That's the first place to look for witness trees. Tree coring can help estimate the age of a tree by showing the growth rings. Some trees can be dated simply by looking at them, because they may carry historical marks. Bullets from battles or markers from early property surveyors can make witness trees more easy to spot.

Witness trees are our living links to the events of the past. They survived the conflict that defined America, and they continue to be impartial witnesses to the events that brought us into our future.

The farmer poet, Wendell Berry, pondered the patriotism of native trees when he wrote:

"I do not see the national flag flying from the staff of the sycamore,
Or any decree of the government written on the leaves of the walnut,
Nor has the elm bowed before monuments or sworn the oath of allegiance.
They have not declared to whom they stand in welcome." *

*"To A Siberian Woodsman" Wendell Berry

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