Tree Information

Common Name: chestnut oak

Scientific Name: Quercus montana (syn. Quercus prinus)

Native/Naturalized: Native to Virginia

Database ID: 2564

Status: alive

National Champion: no

Virginia Champion: yes

Circumference: 216 in.

Height: 120 ft.

Crown: 83 ft.

Points: 357

Date Last Measured: 2017

Last Measured by: Rod Simmons, Greg Zell, and Robin Firth

Date First Measured: 2017

Comments: This old-age tree is perfectly healthy. This and nearby trees in this old-age forest remnant were large and old when they were cut – probably during the Civil War – and have since grown massive in size. The tree is hidden largely from view in an old-age remnant of Northern Coastal Plain / Piedmont Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forest: Fagus grandifolia - Quercus (alba, rubra) - Liriodendron tulipifera / (Ilex opaca var. opaca) / Polystichum acrostichoides Forest (USNVC: CEGL006075), which occupies the length of the ravine. Gigantic northern red oak (Quercus rubra), chestnut oak (Quercus montana), and tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) comprise the lush canopy.

Rod Simmons December 2017

Location of Tree

Tree is located in: City of Alexandria

State Map

Land Owner: St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School (Lower School Campus)

GPS Coordinates: 38.82523, -77.06653

Owner Email: jkrane@sssas.org

Directions: St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School (Lower School Campus). The tree is located on the steep, upper slope of a deep, cove-like ravine along the northeast edge of the property. The ravine was formed by an intermittent, spring-fed stream draining the eastern edge of the Beverley Hills terrace spanning the north boundary of the property from Woodland Terrace to Russell Road. Over millennia, the stream has cut down through the Mount Ida escarpment to impervious Potomac Formation clay along the stream bed. Numerous large, quartzite boulders, presumably relics of the terrace above, are scattered about the lower slopes and stream banks, along with small fragments of iron-conglomerate sandstone (“bog iron”).

Owner Address: 400 Fontaine Street

Alexandria, VA 22302

Contact Information

Contact Name: Rod Simmons

Contact Email: Rod.Simmons@alexandriava.gov

Contact Address: 2900-A Business Center Drive

Alexandria, VA 22314

Contact Phone: 703-930-8972

Nominators

Original Nominator(s): Rod Simmons and Greg Zell

Additional Information

I.D. Fact Sheet

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