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Please note The Museum of the Reconstruction Era will be closed for house tours Wednesday, Feb. 1 - Friday, Feb. 3 due to garden renovations.

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Tribute Grove

Cambridge Elm 
Planted March 17, 1932 
Replaced 1975
Replaced with current Sawtooth Oak 1988

Cambridge Elm
Planted 1946
Dedicated September 5, 1947

  • Cambridge Elm, 2019

    Cambridge Elm, 2019. Historic Columbia collection

  • Plaque marking Cambridge Elm, 2019.

    Plaque marking Cambridge Elm, 2019. Historic Columbia collection

  • Plaque marking original Sawtooth Oak, 2019. Historic Columbia collection

    Sawtooth Oak that replaced the Cambridge Elms planted in 1932 and 1975 at this location, 2019. Historic Columbia collection

  • Plaque marking Sawtooth Oak and Cambridge Elms, 2019. Historic Columbia collection

    Plaque marking the Sawtooth Oak that was planted in 1988 to replace the Cambridge Elms planted in 1932 and 1975 at this location, 2019. Historic Columbia collection

A number of trees have been planted on the State House grounds in memory of individuals or groups of people, though few memorial trees or their markers remain on the grounds today. The South Carolina chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution planned a "tribute grove," which included two seedlings dedicated to George Washington from the Cambridge, Massachusetts, elm under which he supposedly took command of the Continental army in 1775. When the second elm was dedicated in 1947, at the very beginning of the Cold War, the dedicatory address praised the tree a symbolic "bulwark against the insidious attacks of foreign ideologies."

    34.000262295907, -81.034012472491

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    Historic Columbia

    © 2023 Historic Columbia

    Administrative Offices
    1601 Richland Street
    Columbia, SC 29201

    Tours
    All historic house and garden tours start at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills.
    1616 Blanding Street
    Columbia, SC 29201

    Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

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