Big Trees

Big trees in the Vanderbilt Arboretum

What’s a big tree?
What does it mean to be a “big” tree? The National Register of Big Trees and Tennessee Champion Trees list use a point system based on three characteristics that make a tree “big”: the circumference in inches + the height in feet + 1/4 the average crown spread in feet.

The biggest trees
Based on this kind of “score”, the library’s willow oak (2-1030) has a slight edge in the contest for the largest tree on campus. However, the margin of error in measurement is great enough that there is essentially a four-way tie.

• If you park in the Wesley Place garage and walk to main campus, you pass the winning willow oak between the central library and Benson Chapel. It is on your left as you ascend the steps up to Library Lawn.  [Note in 2018: last year this tree lost one of it’s major branches in a big crash that destroyed the railing of the stairs below.  It has not been re-measured, but the loss of this branch may have reduced its crown spread to the point where it is no longer tied for first place.]
• Not surprisingly, one of the four is the most famous tree on campus, the Bicentennial Oak, which is also possibly the only tree in the arboretum that predates the campus. The Bicentennial Oak has a massive girth and is actually wider than it is tall, with a single branch that stretches 21 meters (69 feet).
• Another is the only southern red oak on campus, which stands in front of Godchaux Hall. It is well known to those who walk from Peabody to Main Campus across the 21st Ave.S. bridge. It is one of the tallest trees on campus.
• The big sugarberry is in the Divinity School courtyard.

Seeing the big trees
A “Trail of Giants” tree tour is under construction. You can take the tour now, although the descriptive text for each tree isn’t finished.

About this list
The primary criterion for inclusion in this list is that the tree has a diameter of 1 meter (40 inches) or more. The list also includes individual trees that are the largest known examples of their species, regardless of their diameter. Those trees are listed on bold type. If the tree has a web page, it is linked to the tree’s ID code. To see the location of the tree, click on the “location” link. In cases where the tree is near a road, Google Street View can be used to view the tree.

The list below includes many of the largest trees on campus and will be extended as more trees are measured. In particular, there are probably some large hackberries that need to be added. We are still collecting data on the height and crown spread and will update the list as we obtain that information. The list is ordered by points where available; otherwise, the trees are listed in order of diameter.

A more extensive public database is at https://github.com/vanderbilt-arboretum.

If you are interested in knowing how old the trees might be, see How old are trees in the Vanderbilt Arboretum?

^* Points are calculated according to the criteria used in the National Register of Big Trees: the circumference in inches + the height in feet + 1/4 the average crown spread in feet.

^** Measured in feet by the Civil Engineering CE-161 class in April 2014.

^*** Measured students from the Vanderbilt School for Science and Math. Measured value has asterisks.

Except as noted, English values are rounded conversions of the SI units. The diameter measurements should be quite accurate. The height and crown spread measurements are crude estimates and will hopefully be improved over time. Therefore, differences among trees of only a few points are probably not significant due to measurement error.