Photo courtesy of Buchanan Town Improvement Society
On the grounds of the historic Wilson Warehouse in Buchanan resides a hidden treasure – the largest English Elm tree in Virginia, recently designated the state’s champion by the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech.
Working with Virginia Tech’s Dr. Eric Wiseman and intern Tiffany Harris, the Buchanan Town Improvement Society, owner of the Wilson Warehouse, was pleased to receive this designation. The discovery came about after the organization worked with Virginia Tech landscape design students this spring. Those students developed landscaping plans for the Wilson Warehouse to present to the organization.
Town Improvement Society President Steve Grigg, a Virginia Tech horticulture graduate, a former Virginia Society of Landscape Designers member, and licensed tree expert, knew that they had something special at the Wilson Warehouse. Grigg reached out to Virginia Tech to verify what the tree was.
The tree is estimated to be 125 years old. It has a circumference of 17.4 feet, a height of 81 feet and crown of 81 feet. The tree is healthy and remarkably free of Dutch Elm disease.
A link to the Wilson Warehouse English Elm on the “Big Trees of Virginia” website is:
https://bigtree.cnre.vt.edu/detail.cfm?AutofieldforPrimaryKey=3270. A QR Code is also provided. The public is invited to visit the tree at any time at the Wilson Warehouse at 421 Lowe Street in Buchanan.
The Town Improvement Society is working to protect the tree and ensure its future. Donations to the Wilson Warehouse Tree Fund are gratefully accepted by check payable to: Town Improvement Society and mailed to the society at: P.O. Box 692, Buchanan, 24066.
For more information about the Town Improvement Society and the Wilson Warehouse: website: wilsonwarehouse.org; Facebook: Buchanan Town Improvement Society.
~Town Improvement Society
