Sharon Linnéa

Did you know that a local doctor kept his dead daughter's body suspended in the cave near Sam Clemen's boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri? Or the tragic story of Andrew Jackson's true love? How about the fitting--if spooky--tribute the huge trees at Graceland gave Elvis after his death?

Yes, trees played an important but often overlooked role in the lives of many of America's most famous citizens. Even if you're not a tree fan, you're bound to be fascinated by the little-known stories presented in this book.

If you are a tree fan, however, you'll be glad to know that you can purchase and grow the immediate offspring of all these trees--from the front yard of Amelia Earhart and Frederick Douglas, to a sycamore whose seeds circled the moon.

Aborist Jeff Meyer has made it his life's work to protect and propagate the trees that are important to the life of our nation and her people. It's a worthy cause, and a really interesting book!

From Booklist
As mighty oaks from little acorns grow, so do mighty ideas. For Meyer, this was literally the case, founding the Famous & Historic Trees Project after his son handed him an acorn plucked from the ground beneath Florida's Jacksonville Treaty Live Oak, a seventeenth-century Timucuan tribal council site. Meyer planted the seed in his backyard, and the program that would eventually register more than 400 remarkable trees and produce thousands of descendant saplings took root. In this exceptional combination of horticulture and history, Meyer entertains with anecdotes and obscure tales of the people and events surrounding 17 celebrated trees, from a tulip poplar on the grounds of Mt. Vernon to sycamore seeds sent into space aboard Apollo 14. Whatever your favorite historical figure or period, there surely exists the offspring of a tree that bears silent witness to the illustrious incidents that took place beneath its branches. Carol Haggas

From The Chicago Tribune
"Practical as well as poetic . . . wonderful, textured stories."