Tribute Grove
Cambridge Elm
Planted March 17, 1932
Replaced 1975
Replaced with current Sawtooth Oak 1988
Cambridge Elm
Planted 1946
Dedicated September 5, 1947
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Cambridge Elm, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Plaque marking Cambridge Elm, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Sawtooth Oak that replaced the Cambridge Elms planted in 1932 and 1975 at this location, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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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."