New tree planted to replace former "Washington Oak" in Gaithersburg, MD

New tree planted to replace former "Washington Oak" in Gaithersburg

Seventy-nine years ago, members of the Gaithersburg-Washington Grove Garden Club donated a Washington Red Oak to Asbury Methodist Village in commemoration of George Washington's 200th birthday.

That original tree died recently and was torn from the ground at the end of March, but its memory lives on.

On Friday afternoon, Asbury unveiled a freshly planted red oak and new benches made from the old "Washington" red oak at the site of the formerly towering tree outside Cassell Hall.

Scott Margroum, an expert woodworker and arborist for Rock Hill Lawn and Landscaping of Pasadena, was commissioned to create the benches from wood of the old tree.