The English Elm: The Tree That Witnessed the Revolution
This tree, at the northwest corner of Washington Square Park [in New York City], is one of the only living beings in the city that experienced the American Revolution. Estimated to be more than 300 years old, it’s known as a “witness tree,” said Harold Holzer, the Manhattan borough historian. [....]
The English elm is popular among several creatures that we share the city with. One of its branches is curved in a way that makes it ideal for pigeons to perch and squirrels to splay out on, Ms. Seamans said. [....]
The English Elm is literally living history, holding the collective breath of New York over three centuries. In her book “When Trees Testify,” the plant biologist Beronda L. Montgomery writes of how trees, through photosynthesis, capture the exhales of humans, which become part of their physical form. “That plants, including trees, hold the transformed breath of decades of human life in their physical form positions them as powerful vessels of the present, even as they represent and testify to history and those from their past.” [emphasis added] In this way, the English Elm has, in its body, the breaths of the centuries of people who’ve visited Washington Square. It holds the breaths of the civil rights activists who’ve rallied there, the jazz musicians who’ve played there, the skateboarders who’ve done flips on the fountain, the chess players who’ve sat there for hours.
This is a gift 🎁 link, so there is no paywall to read this NY Times interactive article that also visits five other sites to show how the past lives on today in Lower Manhattan.
THE NEW YORK OF THE PAST IS STILL VISIBLE TODAY YOU JUST HAVE TO LOOK
Anna Kodé reported on six New York sites that explore different facets of the city’s history and can all be visited in a Lower Manhattan walking tour.
The New York Times | By Anna Kodé | Photos/Video by Todd Heisler | Design by Eden Weingart and Umi Syam |July 25, 2026
_____________________________ The video and all images are from the above New York Times article. All images except the one of Washington Square in 1827 were modified from their original source.
