Arbor Day walk at Spiegel Grove focuses on Bicentennial Oak for America 250

Celebrate Arbor Day and America’s 250^th birthday with a walk through Spiegel Grove to the Bicentennial Oak, one of the oldest trees in the arboretum, which dates to the American Revolution on Friday, April 24.

John Havens, building & grounds superintendent at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, will dress in colonial garb and lead the group from the museum main entrance to the oak. The tree is located on the side of the historic Hayes Home at Spiegel Grove, the grounds of the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums and an accredited arboretum.

The group will meet at 8 a.m. at the museum main entrance. This event is free.

Havens will discuss history of the tree, which is one of the largest in the arboretum, and share some colonial tree history. The Bicentennial Oak and many of the oaks on the property are located along the Sandusky- Scioto American Indian Trail, which was later known as the Harrison Trail, and spanned Ohio from Portsmouth at the southern tip to Port Clinton at the northern terminus.

“Those are what we call witness trees,” Havens said. “As anyone moved along the Harrison Trail, those trees would have witnessed it all.”

This is event is part of Hayes Presidential’s America 250 celebration. Partial funding for America 250 events is by Albrechta & Liebold, Ltd., Attorneys at Law.

Hayes Presidential is America’s first presidential library and the forerunner of the federal presidential library system. It is partially funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection. Hayes Presidential is located at Spiegel Grove on Buckland Avenue.

For information, call 419-332-2081, or visit rbhayes.org. Like Hayes Presidential on Facebook and follow on Instagram at rbhayespres and on Bluesky at rbhayespres.bsky.social.