What is the oldest tree in Simsbury?
Simsbury's oldest known tree is the Pinchot Sycamore, an American sycamore on the east bank of the Farmington River off Route 185, estimated at over 200 years and possibly beyond 300. It is also the largest tree in Connecticut, measured in November 2025 at 884 centimetres round, 30.2 metres tall, with an average crown spread of 43 metres. It stands in its own free public park with a boat launch onto the river, and has been floodlit at night since 1997.
Pinchot Sycamore Park is on the east bank of the Farmington River on Route 185, south of Simsbury's village centre and below Talcott Mountain. There is no direct public transport, so it is a car trip. The park is free and open, and the tree is the whole reason for it: open lawn, a boat launch onto the river, and floodlights that have been on the tree since 1997. It was measured most recently in November 2025 at 884 centimetres round, 30.2 metres tall, with an average spread of 43 metres, which is what makes it Connecticut's largest tree and the national champion of its species. The age is given as over 200 years and possibly past 300. There is no planting date and it has never been cored. Winter is the moment worth choosing. A sycamore this size is at its most legible with the leaves off, when the white upper limbs and the whole frame of the crown show, and the floodlights make the same case after dark.
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