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The America250 Commission is planting its roots quite literally on Monday, Oct. 7 at Moraine State Park.

The commission, an initiative to celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, will plant a “Liberty Tree” at 4 p.m. Monday at the state park as part of an effort to plant a tree in each of the state’s 67 counties. The tree planting will take place just west of the Moraine State Park office on Pleasant Valley Road, in the park’s South Shore area.

The original Boston “Liberty Tree” served as a popular gathering place during the Revolutionary era. It became a symbol of the resistance that would eventually grow into the American Revolution, starting in 1765, when an effigy was hung from the tree to protest the Stamp Act.

The original tree would continue to serve as a staging ground for protests until 1775, when British soldiers occupied Boston and destroyed the tree.

Other Liberty Trees sprouted throughout the original 13 colonies. The last surviving one, a tulip poplar located on the campus of Saint John's University in Maryland, was badly damaged by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. According to America250, this last Liberty tree is the source of the trees being planted across Pennsylvania.

“Thanks to landscaper Mark Mehnert, this historical Liberty Tree has been rescued and propagated,” said America250 communications and marketing director Bri Farrand. “Now seedlings from the graft of this original Liberty Tree are being planted across the Commonwealth as part of the Liberty Tree Project.”

A tradition of planting trees across the state has been happening since October 2021. So far, 18 Liberty Trees have been planted in as many counties, including Westmoreland County (at Historic Hanna’s Town), Venango County (at the county courthouse) and Mercer County (at the county conservation district).

The tree-planting events throughout Pennsylvania are being sponsored by the Pennsylvania Freemasons.