The Linden oak in Bethesda, Maryland, a tree that survived from the American Revolution through a battle with Metro in the 1970s, was taken down Tuesday.
The tree was a seedling 25 years before George Washington was born, historians say.
Centuries later, the Linden oak is about to get a second life.
Branch by branch, it is a tree so many in the Bethesda area are familiar with. People driving by Tuesday took one last picture.
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In its prime, the tree stood nearly 100 feet tall right next to the Metro bridge, which almost forced the tree down approximately 50 years ago.
“The Metro was slated to go through the tree in the 1970s,” said Colter Burkes, Montgomery Parks senior urban forester.
But it was Idamae Garrott, a former county councilwoman, who stopped it from happening. According to Burkes, Garrott was “instrumental in being successful at rerouting the alignment of the tracks so they went around the tree. The Linden oak has a lot of local history as well, and it means a lot to the community here.”
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According to Burkes, the Linden oak is being taken down because, just as people, trees “tend to decline in health and eventually die.”
But that’s not the end of the story for the Linden oak.
Burkes says the crews responsible for taking down the tree are checking each and every piece to see if they can be used by a chain saw artist to build a sculpture in a nearby park.
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