Several PTRC members met Luke Marcek of the Maryland DNR Forest Service to measure a very large, very old Sycamore tree at Chapel Point State Park. We were very happy to learn that the tree has now been added to the list of Maryland’s notable Big Trees, at web site http://www.mdbigtrees.com/ .
And, not only is this one of the biggest Sycamore trees in Charles County – it is also probably one of the oldest. Based on its circumference, we have estimated it to be around 294 years old. So our Sycamore was already a large 50+ year-old tree in Revolutionary times; it was nearly 90 when the British burned Washington in 1814, and around 140 years old when John Wilkes Booth was escaping across the Potomac River not too far from where it stood, and still stands.
