Community Corner

Hidden Gems Of Hartford And Tolland Counties

In honor of the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, a previous gem is being revisited.

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​The Pinchot Sycamore, located at 20 Hartford Road (Route 185) in Simsbury.
​The Pinchot Sycamore, located at 20 Hartford Road (Route 185) in Simsbury. (Tim Jensen/Patch )

SIMSBURY, CT — For Friday's 150th anniversary of Arbor Day in America, we're bringing a popular Hidden Gem out of retirement.

The Pinchot Sycamore, located at 20 Hartford Road (Route 185) in Simsbury at the Bataan Corregidor Memorial Bridge over the Farmington River, is the largest tree in Connecticut. Its trunk measures more than 28 feet around and it is about 100 feet tall.

The first American Arbor Day was observed in Nebraska in 1872 and an estimated one million trees were planted in that state. Connecticut's Birdsey Northrop made the day a global affair after delivering his "village improvement message" during a visit to Japan in 1883, state archives show.

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Northrop then became the figurehead for the American Arbor Day movement.

Back to the Pinchot Sycamore ....

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Located at the base of Talcott Mountain, the tree and accompanying park offer views of the Heublein Tower atop the mountain. Hundreds of visitors stop by each year to take family photographs encircling the massive trunk.

At night, the tree is illuminated by floodlights.

The sycamore, estimated to be between 200 and 300 years old, was dedicated in 1965 to Gifford Pinchot, a former Simsbury resident who was the country's first head of the U.S. Forestry Service, as appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt. He later became governor of Pennsylvania.

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path, all located within Hartford and Tolland counties. Do you have a favorite "hidden gem" in the area that you wish to see featured in this column? Email your ideas to tim.jensen@patch.com.
Other Gems in this series:
2022

2021 and earlier:

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