ANNAPOLIS — From enjoying freshly-shucked oysters outside the State House to planting a genetic copy of Maryland’s original 400-year-old Liberty Tree, many elected leaders and local community members spent Maryland Day here celebrating the state’s history and culture.
At a ceremony Wednesday at the historic William Paca House, conservationists, politicians and local residents gathered to plant the scion — or genetic copy — of the original tulip poplar, which once towered over the campus of St John’s College in Annapolis.
The event kicked off the Maryland Liberty Tree Project, a campaign to plant a Liberty Tree sapling in all 23 Maryland counties and Baltimore City ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The project is a collaboration between multiple historic and cultural preservation groups, as well as the state’s Department of Natural Resources, which is also leading a project to plant 5 million new trees by 2031.
Drummers dressed in colonial garb and volunteers carrying the state’s colors opened the event. Others similarly dressed watched from the crowd.
Throughout the ceremony, the conservationists and public officials touted how the project honors Maryland’s legacy and the importance of liberty.
For Francis Gray, chair of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, the state’s history provides a sense of purpose and that in “today’s climate,” the tree is needed as a symbol of “who we are as a people.”
Maryland Day marks the anniversary of when European settlers first arrived March 25, 1634, at what would later become Maryland..
Elsewhere in Annapolis on Wednesday, the Maryland Rural Council set up tables in front of the State House featuring different foods from fried chicken to oysters and products from Maryland farmers.
Lifelong Maryland resident Preston Lake, of Dorchester County, had his own stand where he served up fresh oysters. He said he’s been shucking oysters since he was 15, and is still doing it 53 years later.
Pamela Gretton, who works in visitor services at the Museum of Historic Annapolis, said the Maryland Liberty Tree became known as a meeting point for colonists who gathered on the campus of St. John’s College, then the King William School, to discuss whether to remain loyal to the King.
“The tree was 400 years old,’’ Gretton said at the museum. “She finally just gave up the ghost and split and they had to take it down.”
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At the Liberty Tree Project’s event, attendees stressed the importance of protecting liberties.
Vicki Embrey, who participates in living history for Historic Annapolis and Maryland’s Daughters of the American Revolution, said it’s important to consider what the founders likely intended regarding liberties rather than what’s happening today.
“You cannot take this for granted,” said Embrey, who also wore colonial-era clothing. “Now we’re seeing what’s happened with people who have just assumed we had these liberties and we will always have them.’’
Mary-Angela Hardwick, vice president for education and interpretation at Historic Annapolis, said that while the tree is small now, it will grow and will be here for generations to come.
“Liberty means something that has roots,” she said. “But, like the tree that just was planted today, you have to care for it. And you have to nurture it. And you can’t just assume that it’s going to grow and thrive without commitment and care.”
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