05/13/2026
Witnessing History from a Tree’s Perspective
by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby, Central School Preservation board president
If you've noticed some beautiful new trees around Central School, that's the result of a lot of hard work that all came together on April 17 this spring.
If you happened to drive by that day and saw lots of volunteers planting trees, this is what planting hope and creating community looks like.
A number of months ago, I wrote and submitted a federal grant application that helped Central School Preservation secure $30,000 for a tree planting project in Lake City.
In April, some of Central School's board members and community volunteers helped plant and water a diverse array of more than 20 trees around Central School’s campus. Thanks to South Central Calhoun FFA members for helping mulch each tree, as well.
The group planted oaks, honeylocusts, maples, lindens, Kentucky coffeetrees, planetrees, and more around Central School, predominantly on the north and west.
Since we don’t need $30,000 worth of trees at Central School, we’re sharing about $25,000 of this grant with the City of Lake City to help re-tree areas along Main Street and provide more trees that will be part of the improvements underway at Goins Park.
As these trees grow and mature, think of all the beauty, shade and environmental benefits they’ll provide. They will also witness the history of our community as time unfolds. Perhaps they will live long enough to be considered witness trees.
Witness trees remain in place decades or even centuries after noteworthy events unfolded there. Often the trees were young when the event took place, and have now grown to be massive, silent sentinels of history. These trees often evoke strong emotions when we see them.
These trees serve as natural, living landmarks, having witnessed significant human activity and environmental changes for decades—sometimes centuries (in the case of certain oak trees). Some trees are Iowa’s oldest living residents and many have witnessed the birth of our state.
The National Park Service established the Witness Tree Protection Program in 2006 following their Historic American Landscapes Survey. The program identified 24 historically and biologically significant trees across the country and cataloged written and photographic histories of each tree. With their histories archived in the Library of Congress, each tree has become an important, living connection to our past.
Iowa has a few notable witness trees, including the Hoover Witness Tree in West Branch, Iowa, home of President Herbert Hoover. The Witness Tree in this eastern Iowa town is a large sugar maple that’s estimated to be 150+ years old. It’s of the age that would have been in existence when Hoover (1874-1964) was a young boy growing up in West Branch.
There are some unique witness trees in western Iowa, too, including the Plow in the Oak Tree near Exira along the west side of Highway 71. Legend says that a farmer was out plowing his field when a group of Union soldiers marched by, heading to fight in the Civil War. Feeling patriotic, the farmer leaned his plow against a burr oak tree and joined the soldiers in battle.
Unfortunately, the farmer never returned. The tree grew around the plow and remains to this day.
Then there’s the Tree in the Middle of the Road. This massive cottonwood tree has become a landmark in Audubon County near Brayton and Exira. Today it functions like a rural roundabout.
According to local lore, when the county lines were being established in the 1850s, a surveyor placed a green cottonwood stick into the ground at the exact point where the lines crossed. That little stick grew into the present tree.
Iowa’s pioneer settlers valued the vital role that trees play. Through the years, the Lake City Graphic and newspapers in surrounding communities have included articles about how to grow trees. The March 20, 1913, edition of the Graphic included the article “Advantage of Windbreaks for Iowa Home,” by F.W. Allen of Iowa State College.
“In a region composed almost wholly of high-grade agricultural land, thẻ extent of tree planting is generally small. Generally speaking, land that will produce good crops cannot profitably be devoted to the production of timber. The average farmer does not feel that he can afford to wait for his income until the trees mature. In many cases this is undoubtedly true, yet granting this, we still contend that a certain amount of tree planting is highly-desirable and also profitable.
The profit derived from tree planting cannot be measured wholly by the amount of timber produced. We must also consider the great protection which is afforded to the farm buildings, to crops and to stock. What is more pleasing oven to a man out in snow and windstorm than to find shelter for a few minutes under a group of pine trees? Lastly, the windbreak has quite an aesthetic value. Nothing is more tiresome to the eye than a vast stretch of treeless country.”
All this is as true today as it was 100 years ago. Trees remind us of permanence, that our roots run deep in these areas. Our beautiful trees hold clues to the past.
Witness trees are the keepers of our collective memory. Their roots are intertwined with the very fabric of our history. They inspire awe, wonder, and a deep appreciation for the interconnectedness of nature and humanity.
We hope some of the trees that were planted recently become witness trees. Thank you to everyone who helped make this big project a success!
