A witness to our city’s history

Effort underway to protect last CMS maple

June 28, 2023

“...One tree, by being deeply wounded,

Has been impressed as Witness Tree

And made commit to memory

My proof of being not unbounded.

Thus truth’s established and borne out,

Though circumstanced with dark and doubt

Though by a world of doubt surrounded.”

• From “A Witness Tree” by Robert Frost (1942)







It doesn’t take a poem to inspire you to love a tree.

Maybe you just need to know a little about the tree in question — know its history. Or rather, its place in history; in the history of the place you call home.

So, let’s look at the history of a certain tree on the Broad Street side of Clinton Middle School: A maple tree closing in on the century mark; a maple tree that needs a little TLC; a maple tree that witnessed an important part of the history of the city; a maple tree that has faced destruction before and was saved.

There were four maple trees planted when what was then Clinton High School was built in 1929. Three have been cut, their stumps still scarring the gentle slope next to the school.

The final member of that foursome is in distress — fixable, repairable, in need of some expert care — and Clinton Middle School students are taking on the challenge of helping this tree, their “Witness Tree.”

“You think about all the things that have happened here, of all the things this tree has ‘witnessed,’” said CMS student Finn Pridemore.

Clinton Middle’s “Clinton Alive” club, a combination of 10 – 20 students and four or five alumni, has taken on the task of not just saving the final maple tree from 1929, also replanting the other three fallen maples.

The group has success behind its mission. In 1995 Clinton Alumni Terry Moore, then a teacher at CMS, went before the Anderson County Board of Education to save the final maple from becoming so much firewood.

The school system was upgrading Clinton Middle and part of those plans called for the removal of the tree because its root system was doing damage to the wall along Board Street.

Moore said he went before the board and presented a plan to save the tree, fix the wall, and keep a “witness” of events that helped shape the City of Clinton standing.

He said he also stopped the system from planting “lollipop trees,” flora designed to grow straight with a uniform, round foliage — trees that usually have a life span of about 25 years.

And for less money than cutting down the maple.

“A lot of people have fond memories of that tree from ‘back in the day,” Moore said.

If you ask enough people you will find that there are many stories surrounding that maple. There have been an untold number of photos taken in front of that tree, an uncountable number of stories surrounding resting in its shade. It has been, and still is, a part of growing up in Clinton and appreciating what the city is about.

And don’t forget the history — the very important history — the maple trees on Broad street have witnessed: The first, long walk of the Clinton 12 as they came down Foley Hill as they became the first to integrate a state-run public high school in the south in 1956; the stand taken by the Rev. Paul Turner and the price (in violence upon himself) he paid; the bombing of Clinton High School in 1958.

And the mundane, but memorable, happenings of life in a small city. How many homecoming parades have passed near? How many courtships have taken place under its leaves? How many students have enjoyed the shade as they attended Clinton Senior High School and then Clinton Middle School? How many friendships and conversations and bonds being built has this tree witnessed?

The maple needs pruning, treatment with fungicide, and fertilization and soil care. The estimate is about $1,900, with $1,200 of that for pruning. The other $700 will be an annual estimate to take care of the tree.

The group has made t-shirts for the project and are available through the school through July. They have also produced a Tik Tok video.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Witness Tree can follow it on Tik Tok @Clinton12_witnesstree. The school will be selling original, limited supply t-shirts all through July for $25 as a fundraiser.

The school will also be accepting any donations which can be dropped off or mailed to 110 N Hicks St, Clinton, TN 37716.



The American Battlefield Trust says, “Witness trees are those flora of historic landscapes that remain in place decades or even centuries after noteworthy events unfolded there. Often the trees were young when the event took place, and have now grown to be massive, silent sentinels of history. These trees often evoke strong emotions when we see them, knowing they were present during some of our nation’s most harrowing times.”