It may not be the cherry tree of President George Washington yore, but a tulip poplar on the campus of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts can claim a presidential lineage.
On March 21, 1994, the Hot Springs Parks and Recreation Department planted a two-year old tulip poplar tree in recognition of Arbor Day on the lawn in front of ASMSA’s Administration Building. The tree is a descendant of a tulip poplar planted in 1785 by Washington himself at Mount Vernon, Washington’s estate in Virginia.
ASMSA’s tree was one of 60 seedlings sent to Washington namesake locations and other presidential sites from 1983 to 1998. ASMSA’s campus is known as Clinton Presidential Park. Of those seedlings, only 12 have survived.
Some of the other tulip poplars still living include trees at the site of President Reagan’s boyhood home in Dixon, Ill.; the President Lincoln home in Springfield, Ill.; President Truman’s boyhood home in Missouri; and the Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., among others.
To commemorate the tree, ASMSA and the Hot Springs Parks and Recreation Department will hold a presidential tree historical marker presentation at 3 p.m. on Feb. 17. The parks department will place a historical marker with the tree, which is located in front of the ASMSA Administration Building at 200 Whittington Ave.
A reception in the Administration Building Boardroom will follow the marker presentation.