History & Museums

Historical Society Meeting: Liberty Tree Dedication

All are invited by the City of Vestavia Hills Historical Society to attend the Liberty Tree Dedication in commemoration of America’s 250th Anniversary – October 20, 2026 beginning at 2pm at Vestavia Hills City Hall (1032 Montgomery Highway) History of the Liberty Tree The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous elm tree that stood in Boston, Massachusetts at the corner of Essex and Orange Streets near Boston Common in the years before the American Revolution. In 1765, Patriots in Boston staged the first act of defiance against the British government at the tree. The tree became a central gathering place for protesters, and the ground surrounding it became popularly known as Liberty Hall. A liberty pole was installed nearby with a flag that could be raised above the tree to summon the townspeople to a meeting. Ebenezer Mackintosh was a shoemaker who handled much of the hands-on work of hanging effigies and leading angry mobs, and he became known as “Captain General of the Liberty Tree.” Paul Revere included the Liberty Tree in an engraving, “A View of the Year 1765”. When the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, townspeople gathered at the Liberty Tree to celebrate. They decorated the tree with flags and streamers and hung dozens of lanterns from its branches when darkness fell. A copper sign was fastened to the trunk which read, “This tree was planted in the year 1646, and pruned by order of the Sons of Liberty, Feb. 14th, 1766.” Soon colonists in other towns began naming their own liberty trees, from Newport, Rhode Island to Charleston, South Carolina, and the Tree of Liberty became a familiar symbol of the American Revolution. In April 1775, colonial forces barricaded Boston Neck in the Siege of Boston, including the Common and the Liberty Tree. Only British troops and a small number of Loyalist merchants remained on the Neck, and sometime between August 28 and 31, a party of Loyalists cut down the tree and used it for firewood. One soldier was killed in the process. Following the British evacuation of Boston in 1776, patriots returning to the city erected a liberty pole at the site.

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Listed by: City of Vestavia Hills