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My name is Joe Calzarette
I'm the Natural Resources Program Manager
here at the park and this is Antietam National Battlefield.
A witness tree is a tree that we know for certain
was there and witnessed the battle.
We either know that from seeing it in a photograph
and/or boring the tree
This particular tree- the Burnside Sycamore
we know because we can see it in a photograph.
In the photograph, you'll see the sycamore in the exact location
of course back then it wasn't as big
it was just over the railing of the bridge.
So this tree is a little over 150 or 160+ years
We try to protect it- take care of it.
It is a live thing and someday it won't be here anymore.
But we have a plan to replace it.
and one of the cool things about it is
we've taken seeds from this very tree
and there's other little Burnside Sycamores on the battlefield
that we're propagating now
to replace this tree if it should ever go.
I think witness trees are fascinating because
people like to identify with a historic event
The bridge was here at the battle
but it's an inanimate object
as well as Dunker Church and other features here at the battlefield
the farm houses.
But people probably like the idea of thinking
'Hey if this tree could talk,' the kind of story it would tell.