If there’s anything more American than planting a tree and giving a speech about it, I’ve yet to witness it. On a fine Friday in Carson City—where the wind is as persistent as a politician’s hot breath and the sun burns hotter than a Fourth of July pie contest—the good ladies of the Nevada State Society Daughters of the American Revolution gathered ’round the old Washington Elm for a ceremony that’d make even the stiffest Founding Father misty-eyed.
It wasn’t just any tree but a descendant of the very elm under which General George Washington first took command of the Continental Army in 1775. Whether or not he paused for shade or to scratch his chin and mutter about the British is now lost to history—but his spirit remains, and so do the branches.
The Battle Born and Nevada Sagebrush Chapters of DAR, aided by their Maryland sisters–who brought along their historian like a good-luck charm, rededicated the elm with all the pomp and pride one could hope for. Mona Crandell Hook, state regent and custodian of patriotism, explained it was the perfect marriage of historic preservation and tree-hugging.
“We’re nonpolitical,” she said, “which is a miracle these days, like finding a chicken with teeth or a politician with silence.”
Carson City’s Mayor Lori Bagwell read proclamations from Governor Joe Lombardo and the city, declaring April 25th as Arbor Day, a noble occasion to honor a tree with more historical lineage than many politicians have common sense.
Then came the young voices from Mark Twain Elementary School, who sang with the sincerity only children possess and politicians pretend to. Afterward, the crowd moved to City Hall, where the Rotary Club, not to be outdone, planted another tree and surrounded it with flags, forming a patriotic hedge row if ever there was one.
Debbie Carroll, Regent of the Battle Born Chapter, stated what many thought–the tree deserves a bit more affection than the average shrub.
“We need the community to love on that tree,” she said, clearly a woman not afraid to mix sentiment with soil.
Crandell Hook summed it up best with the motto, one so unsophisticated it would look good stitched on a sampler, “Heart is where the home is. Celebrate Nevada.”
So, nearly 250 years since Washington took command, and still planting his legacy into Nevada soil—proof that in the West–history ain’t just remembered, it’s rooted.
And if the elm ever does fall, Lord willing, there’ll be another sapling and another speech to take its place.
The Old Blog in the Desert 