What is the oldest tree in Chapel Hill, North Carolina?
The oldest tree in Chapel Hill is the Davie Poplar, a tulip tree of 300 to 375 years standing on McCorkle Place, the oldest quad of the University of North Carolina, a two-minute walk from Franklin Street. It is more than 100 feet tall and more than 16 feet around, and the university's age estimate has no ring count behind it, so take the band rather than a single figure. Even at the low end it predates the university. Campus legend says General William R. Davie napped beneath it in 1792 and chose the site for the university on the strength of it, which is a story rather than a record. Two younger propagations, Davie Poplar Jr. and Davie Poplar III, grow nearby and are often mistaken for it. The quad is free and open.
McCorkle Place is the northern quad of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, bounded by Franklin Street at one end, so the tree is a two-minute walk from the middle of town. It is open ground crossed by paths, free and unfenced, busy from morning to evening, and nobody stops anyone walking in. The poplar stands near the centre with the Old Well and Old East close by, which makes this a short walk with a lot on it. Davie Poplar Jr., rooted from the original, and Davie Poplar III, propagated later, grow nearby and get mistaken for the parent regularly, so look for the largest of the three. The university estimates the age at 300 to 375 years without a ring count behind it, which is honest of them and worth repeating rather than rounding. Seeds from the tree were handed out to students in 2005, and the campus paper was still writing about that giveaway twenty years later. Autumn is the moment: tulip trees turn a clear yellow, usually in the second half of October here.
See more themed collections of remarkable trees.