Confederate hero Samuel Davis was born October 6, 1842 near Smyrna, Tennessee. In February 1861 he became a Cadet at the University of Nashville Military College. He was 18. The Civil War commenced not many weeks following and the Cadet became a Private in the army: Company I (Rutherford Rifles), 1st Tennessee Infantry Regiment. At

Standing as a silent sentinel to the town, this enormous white oak (Quercus alba) welcomes travelers into the city of McMinnville. While only 81 feet tall, the crown spreads 130 feet, with several of the lower limbs larger than many trees. However, it is not its size that gives this white oak notoriety; the Birthing

Growing up in a modest two-story home in Atchison, Kansas, young Amelia and her sister shared a bedroom that looks out onto a large sugar maple. Undoubtedly Earhart viewed the tree many times and watched the unusual propeller-like seeds spinning playfully to the ground in the fall. Amelia Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and

Alvin Cullum York, known also by his rank, Sergeant York, is one of the most celebrated soldiers in American history. He joined the pacifist Church of Christ in Christian Union in 1914, and when drafted for service in World War I in 1917, he applied for conscientious objector status, but was denied. On Oct. 8,

The Walden Woods Project in Lincoln, MA is partnering with American Heritage Trees to bring you the Red Maple, Acer rubrum. This beautiful species displays remarkable, brilliant red color in the fall, and is a common species in the woods surrounding Walden Pond, the small New England pond made famous by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau

Charles Walker was a space mission specialist on three shuttle flights in 1984-85. Before Walker went into space in 1984, he said he wanted to take something from Bedford, Indiana – his hometown – with him. He took along seeds from the Indiana sweet gum. He returned from the 1984 space shuttle Discovery flight with

The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Called “America’s Shakespeare,” Edgar Allan Poe created or mastered the short story, detective fiction, science fiction, lyric poetry and the horror story.

A National Historic Landmark, Stratford Hall preserves the legacy of the Lee family and its surrounding community, inspires an appreciation of America’s past, and encourages commitment to the ideals of leadership, honor, independent thought, and civic responsibility. Established by Thomas Lee in the 1730s, Stratford Hall is one of the great houses of American history.

George Washington was the first President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Washington was also a horticulturist, farmer and landscape designer at heart.  As he was struggling with issues of our new nation or commanding operations

Samuel Clemens grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, a riverfront town on the Mississippi.  As a boy Clemens often climbed trees and explored caves, spending many hours playing in a nearby cave that was known as Simms Cave, now the Mark Twain Cave.  Clemens grew up to write about his boyhood adventures using the pin name Mark

At a plain, black well-pump in the small southern town of Tuscumbia, Alabama, one of the world’s great miracles took place. It began one bright, spring day in 1887. There is something spiritually uplifting about touching the actual well-pump where her teacher, Anne Sullivan, reached into the dark silent world of young Helen Keller’s mind

In 1971, Apollo 14 was the third Moon mission of the U.S. Apollo space program, but the flight was unique in one way: tree seeds were taken on the flight to later germinate “Moon Trees”!Moon Trees came about through the work of Astronaut Stuart Roosa. Before joining the Air Force, Roosa had worked as a

William Faulkner is one of the most preeminent American writers of the twentieth century. Faulkner especially embodied the Southern sensibility. His writings were inspired by local stories of Indians, runaway slaves, old colonels and spinsters and are interwoven with his own memories of life in a South torn between traditional ways and modern development. His

Alex Haley lived in Henning, Tennessee with his grandparents from 1921-1929. Here is where young Alex heard many oral accounts of his family history from his grandmother, Cynthia, and Aunts Liz, Viney, Till and Cousin Georgia. On summer evenings their stories of ancestors, Kunta Kinte, who was sold into slavery at age 16 from West Africa, and “Chicken George”, who led the family from North Carolina to Tennessee, inspired Haley to write the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Roots.

Robert Frost is one of the most popular and critically respected American poets of the twentieth century.  His work is highly regarded for his realistic descriptions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, allowing him to depict New England life through language and situations familiar to the common man. Robert Frost became one