Leesburg Heritage Tree

Leesburg's own Tree Commission says this white oak grew from an acorn before there was a Leesburg. The town was founded in 1758, and the commission's Tree Walk of Historic Leesburg calls its Heritage Tree a fine specimen of white oak well over 250 years old. It stands in Ida Lee Park, next to the Rust Farm House, a farmhouse from around 1859 at 50 Ida Lee Drive NW. If the town's figure is right, the oak was about a century old when the house went up beside it. The farmhouse now stands by the park's festival field. Take the age as the town's statement. The leaflet gives no ring count or measurement behind it, and we have found no published girth for the tree. The town's own America 250 page adds that the park once held several mature white oaks, and in May 2026 the town planted a Mount Vernon chestnut oak sapling beside the farmhouse. That sapling is not the Heritage Tree, so look past it for the old trunk. One more honest caveat. The leaflet is undated, and nobody we can cite has confirmed the oak since. A local newspaper reported in January 2026 that the town's tree inventory had measured a massive white oak in Ida Lee Park, which may or may not be this one. If you have been to the farmhouse lately, or know its girth, tell us.