Delaware's Largest Atlantic White Cedar

A few months ago I read an article about the discovery of the largest Atlantic White Cedar in Delaware.  Of particular interest was the fact the Tract where the tree was found, the Ponders Tract, is just 15 minutes from where we live.

When I first read the story, I mentioned it to our son Asher, and suggested we try to find the tree the next time he was home from college.  None of the stories I had read indicated the location, other than it was in the Tract.  Asher readily agreed.  That visit came and went without a trek to the forest.

After Christmas, we had some family in town.  We needed an outing, so we suggested a visit to Ponders to the kids.  Everyone was up for the task, so we set out, a little later in the afternoon than we intended.  When we arrived, we had less than an hour and a half before the daylight faded.

On the ride there, Asher was quiet, fiddling with his phone.  I assumed he was just killing time, but when we arrived, he says “I’ve been doing some research about Atlantic White Cedars.”  He then told us that the tree tends to grow in wet areas, often surrounded by standing water.  With that information in mind, he had then looked at the map of the Tract, found what appeared to be such an environment, and said “I think we should look in THIS area.”

There are 9 miles of trails in the Ponders Tract.  Asher picked one particular trail, and we set out, noting the time, and at what point we should probably head back to the car so as not to get stranded in the dark.

As we hiked, we noted some young growth forest.  The trees were exclusively pine, and they were of the same age.  We knew the cedar wouldn’t be in that area.  But on the other side of the trail, the trees were of a mixed variety.  We assumed that was a possibility for the location of the cedar.

Most of us didn’t even know what an Atlantic White Cedar looked like.  So Asher found some very small ones and pointed them out.  THAT is what we were looking for. The further we hiked, the larger these cedars became.

Eventually we noticed a sizable cedar, maybe 18” in diameter, and went off the trail to inspect it. It was from that position that someone said “look at THAT one!”  It was another cedar 100’ to the northwest, and not clearly visible from the trail. It was immense.  If it wasn’t THE tree, it was still huge.

Elias had brought a piece of string 119” in length, which was the circumference of the record tree.  The boys draped the string around the tree at the appropriate distance off the ground, about 4 1/2’, and the string overlapped just an inch.  It was close enough to make us believe we had found THE cedar. If it wasn’t the record cedar, it was a close runner up.

The cedar stood in a boggy area, the exact environment Asher had predicted.

We were dumbfounded at the prospect that we had possibly found the tree. Of course, it was all due to Asher’s research.  We basked in the moment.  We had set out on a mission, with little hope of success.  The pursuit would be worth the effort, regardless of the outcome.  In this case, however, we were rewarded with the satisfaction of possibly finding a Delaware Treasure.

Then, just a few days ago, we received confirmation.  I saw a different story about the tree, which included actual pictures.  When I compared the pictures to the pictures we had taken, it was clearly a match.

As we had walked back to our car, the evening approaching fast, we had all agreed that the prospect of discovery added an element of excitement to hiking.  We had tapped into a common characteristic of a select group of people... we were explorers.