A white oak that by one estimate is older than the United States stands in the forecourt of a suburban shopping centre, behind its own fence, under its own floodlights and its own lightning rods. Wikipedia puts the Travilah Oak at more than 330 years, a source estimate rather than a count of rings. When the Potomac Oak Shopping Center went up at the corner of Travilah Road and Glen Road in 1979, the tree was already some three centuries into its life. Ten years later it was threatened with removal. From 1997 came the protection it has today: the fence, the patio and seating around it, the lights and the lightning rods. The Maryland Big Tree Program measured it in January 2021 at 5.82 metres round, 23.8 metres tall and with a crown 33.5 metres across. Sources disagree on whether that makes it the largest white oak in Montgomery County or the second largest, behind a tree at Wisconsin Avenue and Beech Drive. The name comes from Travilah Clagett, a local postmaster, and the tree has a club of its own: the Friends of the Travilah Oak hold a celebration for it every autumn. When the Wye Oak, Maryland's most famous tree, fell in 2002, this one was put forward as a candidate for the state tree. It is a long way out from the Mall, a half day by Metro and bus. It is also the rare veteran with a parking lot at its feet.
Potomac Oak Shopping Center, corner of Travilah Road and Glen Road, Potomac, Maryland You can recognise it by the fence, patio and floodlights around its trunk, 5.82 metres round. It stands in the forecourt of the Potomac Oak Shopping Center, at the corner of Travilah Road and Glen Road.
Free. Stands in the shopping centre's forecourt with a fence, patio and seating, open to anyone shopping or passing; public parking lot.
About 45 to 60 minutes by car from downtown DC; Metro Red Line to Shady Grove plus a Ride On bus is the transit route (not route-checked), so a half-day trip.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.