Silver Linden at Saint John the Apostle

The widest trunk on the grounds of Saint John the Apostle Catholic Church belongs to a tree from the other side of the Atlantic. This silver linden measures 246 inches round, about 6.25 metres, and the Loudoun County Big Tree Registry's 2025 list marks it as Virginia's champion of its species. That is a remarkable girth for any linden. Silver linden is native to south-eastern Europe and western Asia, a tree planted in American towns for its shade and its leaves, dark green above and silvery white beneath, so the crown flickers pale when the wind turns them. The county measured this one at 69 feet tall (21 metres), with a crown 61 feet across, for a total of 330 points. Of the four registered trees on these grounds, it has the widest trunk by a long way. The Japanese chestnut nearby is about 4.3 metres round. Nobody seems to have written down when it went in. The county gives no age and no planting date, and no other source we know of does. A linden this broad in a churchyard is the kind of tree a parish photograph or a town history might show as a sapling. If you have one, or know the story, tell us. The tree stands towards the north of the church grounds off Church Street NE, a few minutes' walk from King Street in the middle of town. Check for services or funerals before walking in.