A Temple University lecturer used seedlings from the elm at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Several other events in March also commemorated the 200th anniversary of the original elm's death.
Several seedlings from Haverford's massive American elm on Barclay Beach were on stage when Eva Monheim, Temple University lecturer, talked about Ulmus americana and highlighted the Penn Treaty Elm at the Philadelphia Flower Show on March 5.
Haverford's elm is a direct descendant of the famous tree under which William Penn met with Lenape Chief Tamanend in 1682 and pledged a treaty of friendship. The tree became famous during its lifetime along the banks of the Delaware River in Shackamaxon, what is today the Kensington area of Philadelphia. In 1771 Benjamin West painted a depiction of the meeting. Artist Edward Hicks made several renditions of the event. Voltaire spoke of it; poets praised it.
During the first week of March, a series of programs marked the 200th anniversary of the death of the original Penn Treaty Elm. In addition to the Flower Show program, there was a display of the original wampum belt at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Native American singing and drumming at the site of the original tree, Penn Treaty Park.
