LIFE LIST UPDATE – No. 557: See the Ginkgo tree in Evergreen

Ginkgo tree is in center, to left of tall grave marker.

The Ginkgo tree inside the Old Evergreen Cemetery in Evergreen, Ala. is arguably the most unusual tree in all of Conecuh County, and if you’ve ever driven by the cemetery on US Highway 31/84, you may have driven right by it without noticing it.

Ginkgo trees are native to China and are considered “living fossils,” that is, they have no close relatives in the plant kingdom, and they have remained unchanged over millions of years. Ginkgo trees are also known for their long life spans, with some as long as 2,500 years. They usually grow to a height of around 100 feet, and their leaves turn a bright yellow in the fall.

The Ginkgo tree within the Old Evergreen Cemetery is located on the end of the cemetery nearest the overhead bridge on U.S. Highway 31/84, which is also known as Perryman Street inside the Evergreen city limits. Bowles Street, which was recently closed to vehicle traffic by the City of Evergreen, runs along that end of the cemetery, and the Ginkgo tree is about halfway down that former through-street. The three is located within a small section of the cemetery that contains the graves of the Strout family.

I put seeing this tree on my “life list” some time ago because I’d heard so much about it from other people over the years, including my father, who grew up in Evergreen. The cemetery is located a short walk from the former locations of the old Evergreen High School and Evergreen City School buildings. Generations of students, including my father, made “field trips” with their science teachers to the cemetery’s Ginkgo tree when it came time to make leaf collections.

I’d never been inside the Old Evergreen Cemetery until last Thursday when I had to go there to take pictures of a chainsaw operators class that was sponsored by the City of Evergreen and the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service. While there, I killed two birds with one stone and located the Gingko tree. A Google image search on my trusty iPhone gave me an idea of what type of leaves to look for, and finding the tree on my way out was easy. I had a general idea of its location thanks to my friend Gilbert Harden, a long-time mail carrier in Evergreen, who pointed out the area where it could be found to me one day when were on our way to eat lunch.

The presence of this unusual tree raises a number of questions. How old is it? Who planted it there? Where did it come from? We may never know the answers to these questions, but there are a few clues. As mentioned before, the tree is within a section of the cemetery containing graves from the Strout family. The most prominent marker in that section is the grave of Sanford Blake Strout, who died in 1924. Strout was a native of North Easton, Mass., and I can’t help but wonder if he or another member of the Strout family is somehow connected with the Ginkgo tree’s origin.

I learned from another Evergreen resident last Thursday that there at least four other Ginkgo trees in Evergreen, and they are about 50 years old. The cemetery Ginkgo tree is “much older than that,” this longtime resident said. Former City School students also remember collecting leaves from the tree more than 55 years ago, so it’s at least that old and likely much older.

In the end, I enjoyed finally getting the chance to see this unusual tree up close, which also allowed me to scratch another item off my “life list.” If any of you out there know more about this tree and its history, let me hear from you. How old is the tree? Who planted it? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.