The Liberty Tree is the oldest tree in the park! This 100-year old Oak tree was found on the property about 8 miles from it’s current location, it it the largest tree ever to be transplanted at Walt Disney World. It took careful planning and months of prepping to get this 38-ton tree to its new home. Bill Evans was one of Walt Disney’s personal landscapers, he was handpicked by Walt himself to oversee the landscape projects at Disneyworld; he was in charge of this huge project and came up with the innovative way to move this oak. Holes were drilled through the hardwood center of the trunk and steel rods were inserted to create a support for hoisting and hauling the tree with a 100-ton crane.
This tree now stands tall and grand in the middle of Liberty Square. It is decorated with thirteen hanging lamps which represent the original thirteen American colonies. The story of the Liberty tree dates back to Colonial Boston at the beginning of the American Revolution. It is said that the Sons of Liberty gathered under a large elm tree to protest the British Stamp Act. From that day forward, the tree became known as the “Liberty Tree.” It became a meeting place and was often decorated with lanterns and a yellow flags were raised to call people to meetings
At the base of the tree there is a plaque that reads: “The Liberty Tree – Under the boughs of the original Liberty Tree in Boston in 1765, Patriots, calling themselves The Sons Of Liberty, gathered to protest the imposition of the Stamp Act. In the years that followed, almost every American town had a Liberty Tree — A Living Symbol Of The American Freedom of Speech and Assembly.”
