Ulmus americana Connecticut (Withersfield) The Withersfield Elm, Largest Elm in the United States. Height 97 ft., girth of trunk 28 ft., spread of branches 147 ft.
(c) President and Fellows of Harvard College. Arnold Arboretum Archives. Permission to publish archival materials and / or images in a publication, performance, or broadcast must first contact the library for permission < hortlib@arnarb.harvard.edu >. Our policies and forms for use of the library and archival materials can be accessed at http://arboretum.harvard.edu/library/services/
All rights reserved.
Notes (historical):
The Withersfield (or Wethersfield) Elm was considered to be the largest elm in the US after a contest of the American Genetic Society in 1915, which compared 337 trees. It used to stand on the east side of Broad Street Green in historic Wethersfield Connecticut, founded in 1633-1634. There was a sign attached to this tree that described its age and some of its dimensions (9' 6" in diameter, 29' 6" in circumference, 172 years old in 1930). It was also over 100 feet tall and had a branch speard of over 100 feet. Supposedly, Charles Wesley (1707-1788), the famous English head of the Methodist movement), preched beneath this elm. It was destroyed by a storm on September 21, 1938. This photo represents a detail of the trunk. (Charles Randall and Priscilla Edgerton, Famous Trees (Washington D.C., 1938), 73.
IIIF Manifest