This Silver Leaf Linden (identified as such by the College) is one of the most significant trees in Lancaster County. It has towering height, an impressive trunk, venerable age, an interesting history, and above all, out- standing form and beauty.
At least 11 different species of linden live in Pennsylvania (see pabigtrees.com). The F&M tree may not only be the largest Silver Leaf Linden in the entire state but also the largest linden of any species.
According to F&M (F&M Magazine, Summer 2016, Issue 86), Henry Kyd Douglas graduated from the College in 1858, was a second lieutenant in Company B of the 2nd Virginia infantry during the Civil War, and later served on Gen. Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson’s staff. Douglas kept a diary in which he described planting beech and linden trees in the area near what is now Keiper Hall during April 1857. He wrote: “Where will I be when those trees shade the ground with their thick foliage? Who will recline under their spreading branches when I am far away, or perhaps beneath the cold, cold ground? The future alone will reveal.”
Beneath a 500-year-old T. tomentosa in Romania, that country’s most famous poet — Mihai Eminescu — wrote his best works. [Last photo shows Eminescu’s Linden.]
