To find some of the most majestic Eastern White Pine trees in North America, just head to the Peace Grove in Massachusetts’ Mohawk Trail State Forest. It’s home to no fewer than seven outstanding white pines, so notable they have names like Lee Frelich, Crazy Horse, William Moomaw, Chuck Bellows and Bruce Kershner. They stand in a cluster of about 45 Eastern White Pines with an average trunk volume of 307 cubic feet, with the tallest, Jake Swamp, stretching 176 feet into the air.
YouTuber Dime Store Adventures took a visit to Peace Grove to see the trees in person, and if you live anywhere nearby, you should get out there and check it out yourself. As you can see, it’s worth the hike.
“The Peace Grove is a stand of massive Eastern White Pines out in the woods,” says the host. “It contains 24 trees over 150 feet tall which is insanely rare. There’s pretty much nowhere left on the planet with this density of massive white pines. In fact, some of them even have names, like the Jake Swamp Pine named for the famous Mohawk Native American Chief Saheda, named for a Mohawk elder who was killed over a disagreement involving the beaver pelts trade.”
“In fact, this whole area’s name stems from Native American culture. The grove was named and dedicated in 1997 as the Peace Grove in reference to the fact that in many different Native American traditions the Eastern White Pine is known as the Tree of Peace. Some say that the famous Five Nations were convinced to come together and quite fighting under the symbolism of the five needles clustered on an Eastern White Pine, representing each one of the tribes, and the Iroquois have along history with the tree. It was common practice to bury weapons of war at the base of an Eastern White Pine to recognize the induction of a peace agreement.”
He also has some tips for identifying an Eastern White Pine tree in the wild. “If you get close you’d see some nice long feathery needles and clusters of five. You can use that fact to help you identify the tree. The word ‘white’ has five letters in it, and the Eastern White Pine needles grow in clusters of five.”
