Tree Information

Common Name: American beech

Scientific Name: Fagus grandifolia

Native/Naturalized: Native to Virginia

Database ID: 1022

Status: alive

National Champion: no

Virginia Champion: no

Circumference: 195 in.

Height: 94 ft.

Crown: 114 ft.

Points: 318

Date Last Measured: 2022

Last Measured by: Byron Carmean, Dylan Kania, Gary Williamson

Date First Measured: 2007

Comments: Tree is located at Upper Brandon Plantation on the James River. The plantation was part of an original land patent known as Brandon, granted to Captain John Martin, one of the founders of Jamestown. He was suceeded by several absentee owners, including the grandson of William Shakespeare, until the property was purchased by Benjamin Harrison II of Wakefield in 1712. In 1807, at the death of Benjamin Harrison III, the 7,000 acre property was divided between his two sons, with William Byrd Harrison inheriting the 3,555 acres that became Upper Brandon. He built the manor house in 1825 and developed the farm into a "model of modern agricultural management." It remained in the Harrison family until 1948.
2016 measurements by Byron Carmean and Gary Williamson: circumference 200", height 96', crown 117', points 325.