- General Grant tree
[
General Grant tree,
Kings Canyon National Park ] The General Grant tree is the largestGiant Sequoia in theGrant Grove section ofKings Canyon National Park . It was named in 1867 afterUlysses S. Grant ,Union Army general and the 18thPresident of the United States (1869-1877).President
Calvin Coolidge proclaimed it the "Nation's Christmas Tree" in 1926. OnMarch 29 ,1956 , PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower declared the tree a "National Shrine", a memorial to those who died in war. It is the only living object to be so declared. [cite web
url = http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm
title = Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Information Page
author = National Park Service
accessdate = 2007-03-06 ]The tree is the second largest tree in the world after the General Sherman as of 2005 when the Washington tree which was previously second place lost half it's trunk.
Once thought to be well over 2,000 years old, recent estimates point to a much younger age closer to 1,650 years. [cite press release
url = http://www.werc.usgs.gov/news/2000-12-06.html
title = World's Largest Tree is Younger Than Once Thought
publisher = U.S. Geological Survey
date =6 December 2000
accessdate = 2007-03-06 ]tatistics
See also
*
List of famous trees Notes
External links
* [http://www.nps.gov/seki/grantwlk/gg1.htm Virtual Grant Tree Walk]
* [http://www.nps.gov/seki/xmastree.htm General Grant: Our Nation's Christmas Tree]
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/seki/bigtrees.htm The top 30 giant sequoias]
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.