Big Sycamore Tree

Is this the largest Sycamore Tree that ever grew in Indiana? In the United States? It’s hard to say with complete certainty, but this one would be in the running for that title. In the Worthington City Park is a gazebo containing a limb of that tree. The tree was originally located along the river bottoms in Highland Township, but was placed here after it fell to a storm.

The sign on the tree reads: “A limb from the Big Sycamore tree that grew in the White River Bottoms 1 1/2 miles east of Worthington and was placed in the park in 1925. In 1915 the age of the tree was estimated to be 500 yrs old. Ht. 150 ft. and the spread 100 ft. Circumference 1 ft. above the ground was 45 ft. 3 in. Circumference 5 ft. above the ground was 42 ft. 3 in. East branch 27 ft. 8 in. West branch 23 ft. 3 in.”

According to the Greene County website, the tree was estimated to be about 500 years old. In September 1915, the Oxford Journal of Heredity reported that it was the country’s largest broad-leaf tree, with a circumference measuring 42 feet and three inches. They write, “In its heyday, the shady tree was a popular place young lovers because the tree was so hollow one could have picnics inside the trunk and so large that a horse and buggy could easily be hidden behind it.”