The Witness Sawtooth Oak of Westinghouse Park

This oak was named a Witness Tree, and the record does not say what it witnessed. Pittsburgh's Shade Tree Commission gave it that title in March 2024, the category the city's Remarkable Trees program keeps for trees of historical or cultural significance. The commission's minutes name the species and the park, and stop there. It is the odd one out in other ways too. A sawtooth oak is not American. Quercus acutissima comes from East Asia, and its leaves look more like a chestnut's than an oak's: long, narrow and glossy, with a neat row of bristle-tipped teeth down each edge. The acorns sit in shaggy, fringed cups. Among the native trees of the park, it is easy to pick out once you know what you are looking for. Westinghouse Park, in Point Breeze North, is named for George Westinghouse, the inventor of the railway air brake, who built his companies in Pittsburgh. Whether this tree's significance has anything to do with him, no source we have says, and we will not guess. The pin is a tree-level point from the city's own map, near North Murtland Street. The copper beech in Frick Park, another tree on the city's list, is about 700 metres away, so the two make a short walk. No age, girth or height has been published. If you know why this oak was chosen as a witness, or what it has seen, tell us: that is the story this page is still missing.