In the News: "Counties to plant liberty trees as part of country's 250th anniversary"

Charles County gets a liberty tree. Calvert County gets a liberty tree. St. Mary’s County gets a liberty tree. All the counties in Maryland get a liberty tree. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will plant a liberty tree in every county to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, Lucille Walker, executive director of Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium, said during the Tri-County Council of Southern Maryland full council on Oct. 23. The original Liberty Tree was in Boston where it was cut down by soldiers of the British army leading up to the American Revolution, Walker said. Other colonies chose large trees, now known as Liberty Trees, to convene. Maryland’s Liberty Tree was the last one and fell in 1999. Before it fell, a scion — a grafted tree with the same DNA — was created of the Maryland’s original liberty tree and was planted at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Walker said. The Southern Maryland National Heritage Area partnered with the Maryland Liberty Tree Project and other organizations for every county to receive a liberty tree to plant in 2026.