Chatham Catalpas

Two Southern Catalpa trees stand beside Chatham Manor, a Georgian mansion completed in 1771 on the Rappahannock River in Stafford County. The trees have been dated to approximately 180 years old — they were present during the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln came in 1862 to confer with Union General Irvin McDowell, who had established headquarters at Chatham with some 30,000 troops. They were here when Walt Whitman arrived on December 16, 1862, searching for his wounded brother, and stayed on as a volunteer nurse. Clara Barton served here too. The National Park Service calls them "witness trees" — five survive on the grounds, and these catalpas stand beside the manor.

By 2009, one catalpa had suffered significant root damage and was leaning. Rather than cut it down, NPS installed a massive metal brace to hold it upright. Both trees are actively dying. Both are actively maintained. The Park Service acquired Chatham in 1975; the manor now serves as headquarters for Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Come see the catalpas before they're gone. Chatham is the only private residence in the United States documented to have been visited by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Dwight D. Eisenhower — but the trees don't care about that. They were here for the wounded, and they're still here.