The Wallingford Playfield Pin Oak

Pin oaks seldom grow a trunk this thick. This one measures 50 inches across, about 13 feet round, in Seattle's street-tree inventory, which lists it as a city Heritage Tree in Wallingford Playfield. That inventory is the only source for it, and a thin one. It records no height and carries no notes, so we cannot tell you how tall the tree is. The pin on our map is the city's coordinate for the trunk. A city crew last confirmed it in service in September 2021. An iNaturalist record from August 2025 sits within range of the pin and may be this oak, or may be a neighbour; we cannot say which. The record also fills in its planting field, but with a bookkeeping date rather than a planting, so it is no evidence of age, and we give none. Wallingford Playfield is a neighbourhood park on Wallingford Avenue North, free and open from four in the morning until half past eleven at night. Pin oaks turn dark red to russet in autumn, which makes October and November the months to come and look for it. Nobody has dated this oak or put a tape to its height. If you can do either, tell us, and we will put your figure on the page.