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Hagley Tree Tied for U.S. Champion
Hagley's Osage Orange tree joins 733 of the largest tree species on the the “National Register of Big Trees”
Hagley Museum and Library (February 22, 2011)
Wilmington, Delaware – Hagley Museum and Library is pleased to announce that its Osage Orange tree has been officially named co-champion for the largest Osage Orange tree in the nation. It is seventy-two feet in height, twenty-six-and-a-half feet in circumference, and eighty-five feet in spread. Hagley’s Osage Orange, which is a Delaware State Champion tree, sits proudly in front of Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont ancestral home. It joins 733 of the largest tree species in the United States on the “National Register of Big Trees,” only two of which are from Delaware.
Hagley’s 350-year old Osage Orange was thriving long before E. I. du Pont built his home and mills along the Brandywine in 1802. Visitors are often mesmerized by low, wide, irregular spreading branches and rough, orange-brown bark of this magnificent tree. The tree can be seen during a tour of Eleutherian Mills.
“This tree stands like a large bronze sculpture at the end of the old allee,” said Hagley gardens and grounds supervisor Richard Pratt. “It is truly a spectacular sight.”
Hagley’s 235 acres contains ninety-four species and varieties of trees, fifty of these are native to Delaware. Forty-six of Hagley’s trees are on the State of Delaware Forest Service’s big tree nomination list and eighteen are Delaware State Champions. Visitors may pick up a copy of the self-guided Great Tree brochure in the Hagley Visitor Center.
The National Register of Big Trees, maintained by American Forests since 1940, is a list of the largest living specimens of each tree variety found in the continental United States.
Admission to the museum is $11 for adults, $9 students and senior citizens, $4 children six through to fourteen, free for children five and under and free for members.
Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. Hagley is located on Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org
Hagley Osage Orange Tree Tied for U.S. Champion