America250PA plants ‘Liberty Tree’ at Moraine
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Dozens of state and county dignitaries gathered at the entrance of Moraine State Park on Monday, Oct. 7 for a ceremony marking the planting of a tree. It wasn’t just any tree, but a Liberty Tree, planted to uphold a tradition that dates to before the birth of the nation.
“I was approached last year about planting a tree,” said Brian Flores, the park’s assistant manager, during the planting ceremony. “I didn’t realize this is what came with it.”
In the lead-up to the nation’s 250th birthday less than two years from now, the America250PA foundation has embarked on planting a Liberty Tree in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Butler County is the 19th county to receive one.
Butler County native U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, took time out of his busy schedule — which includes investigating two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump — to give the opening remarks. During his speech, Kelly connected the tree to the roughly 1.5 million soldiers who gave their lives in support of the country during the past nearly 250 years.
“The only way any of this continues into the future is by us doing what we are doing today,” Kelly said. “In any relay race, the only success is when you hand it off to the next generation, and what does that generation do when it grabs the baton? Does it look forward to ensure there is a future for America, or does it look backward and say, ‘No, not me’? That’s never been the case in America.”
Other county and state dignitaries who made the trip to Moraine State Park were Butler County Commissioners Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel; county treasurer Diane Marburger; clerk of courts Lisa Lotz; and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th.
The Liberty Tree project has been supported and sponsored by the Pennsylvania Freemasons, and many of their highest-ranking officers also were in attendance.
The tree, located near the park office on Pleasant Valley Road, is a tulip poplar descended from the last of the original Liberty Trees from colonial times. While Moraine’s tree may be hard to spot now, P.J. Roup, senior grand warden of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, believes it won’t take long to grow.
“From my understanding, they grow very quickly,” Roup said. “In three or four years it’ll be 20 or 25 feet tall, and it’ll start to spread. So it won’t be long before people actually can have fun underneath it, have a picnic, and kick and catch a ball.”
The original Liberty Tree was planted in Boston and served as a gathering place for colonists to discuss their growing opposition to British rule, which eventually grew into the Revolutionary War. While the tree in Boston was destroyed by the British army when it occupied the city, new Liberty Trees sprouted throughout the original 13 colonies.
The last surviving of those original trees was a tulip poplar located on St. John’s College campus in Maryland, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. This last tree is the source of the Liberty Trees America250PA is planting this year, which came from seedlings from the Maryland tree.
“What better way to honor the revolutionary principles upon which our nation was established than by planting these living, tangible connections to our country’s roots?” Roup said during the ceremony.
Osche said the Liberty Tree planting is far from the end of the America250 celebrations in Butler County.
“We hope to reunite our committee and start to do some more planning that goes beyond simply doing articles in the newspapers,” Osche said. “I know they want to reach out to some other organizations like the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts and different community organizations and plan some events.”
