Montgomery had the largest and oldest shingle oak tree in the United States
Did you know that at one time, Montgomery had the largest and oldest shingle oak tree in the United States?
The tree was discovered on December 29, 1963 in the backyard of the Monroe Lumley family on 7951 Cooper Road. They found then that it was 300 years old. The size of the tree was very unique. It was 15 feet in circumference, 93 feet tall with branches that spanned anywhere from 60-82 feet.
Mrs. A.C. Hummel noticed the tree and entered it into the Social Register of Big Trees of the National Forestry Service in Washington, D.C. In 1964 it was made a winner.
The Lumley family’s grandmother, who died in 1927 and was 87 years old, recalls when she was a little girl, thinking even then, that it had been full grown tree.
The Old Fashioned Garden Club kept the tree alive on a $400 budget, but sadly high winds and a thunderstorm brought the prized tree down in August of 1972.
The tree did make appearances in the Sycamore Messenger before it came down.