Farmers Market Find: A Royal Tree for the Market Queen

This week's Find takes us nearly a mile from the market to a triangular piece of land where Crooks Road, Main Street and Rochester Road meet.

That's the place where a mighty oak tree gave the city its name and where its 4-year-old distant cousin was planted last weekend in honor of former market master Gwen Ross.

Before beginning the short trek to find the tree, it's helpful to do some time traveling of sorts first.

According to research done by Maureen McDonald and John Schultz, the authors of Images of America: Royal Oak, Michigan’s first governor, Lewis Cass, signed a treaty with the Chippewa in 1818 under an oak tree just paces north of what is today the intersection of Catalpa Drive and Main Street.  It is there that Cass set up camp under an oak tree and told the story of Prince Charles II, who hid in a giant oak tree after the Battle of Worcester. The tree in England was later dubbed the “Royal Oak.”

The 1930s mural titled "The Naming of Royal Oak," which hangs in the auditorium of , depicts Cass standing under what he decreed his “Royal Oak.”

Schultz said that in 1937 a group of citizens arranged to have 50 acorns from the Royal Oak of England shipped to Michigan. They were planted in pots at the and then 10 years later moved to . The trees there, then, are the descendants of the oak that saved the life of the prince who lived to be crowned king.

Tom Brim of Royal Oak can tell the story well as Schultz. Brim is an expert on historical trees and a fan of the Royal Oak Farmers Market. As he recalls, six or seven years ago he was in the market and a group of people was giving away acorns in paper cups that had fallen from the oaks at Memorial Park.

“They wanted people to take them home and see who could grow a tree,” Brim said. “I tried it, but the acorns where dried out.”

Not to be discouraged, he went to Memorial Park and collected his own acorns – a bag full. He tended to the acorns over the winter. At one point Brim says he had 50 seedlings in the kitchen.

Brim teamed up with Ross and together they gave away the trees at the farmers market.

“We took donations for the trees, but if you didn’t have money we would give you one,” he said. “Gwen made certificates of authenticity for each one.” After all, the trees were royalty.

Brim has continued the tradition for five years. Last spring, he said, he raised $158 for the market selling royal oaks.

. To honor her, and to thank her for welcoming him into the market, Brim planted an English oak tree in the location of Cass’s 19^th century campground last weekend. The 6-foot tree is from the original bag of acorns he brought home a dozen or so years ago.

Brim said he wanted to plant the tree in the spring but the conditions weren’t right. He said he has been unable to contact Ross and tell her about the tree planted in her honor. “She’s probably traveling around the country enjoying her retirement,” he said.

On Thursday, Brim was tending to the tree with a bucket of water.

“Every tree needs to have a name,” he said. “I’m going to let Gwen name this one.”