The Old Sycamore

This aerial photo of the old sycamore was taken from the height of Lindenwald's tower

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Kinderhook, NY

Significance:

Oldest tree in the park

Amenities

2 listed

Benches/Seating, Scenic View/Photo Spot

The oldest tree on the park grounds is the American Sycamore tree behind Van Buren's home. The towering tree stands taller than the tower of Van Buren's home, and requires multiple people to join hands at its base to go around it. Sycamore trees can live for over 200 years under the correct circumstances, but it is impossible to know for sure exactly how old our sycamore is without damaging it. This is because depending on environmental factors trees can grow at different rates, the only way to know exactly how the old the tree is would be to take cores out and count rings. By growth estimates however the tree is believed to have originated from Van Buren's time on the property making it the only witness tree to his time here.