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| Scott Peden Collection |
The Fremont Tree “… is hollow at the butt, affording a room seventeen
feet in diameter. It still contains shelving, left in it by a family formerly
inhabiting it. It was first used as a domicile many years ago by a couple of
sailors who deserted a whaling vessel in the Bay, and in their hiding
discovered this tree and appropriated it as their residence, receiving their
food from the hands of a woman living close by, who still lives, to wonder at
the astounding changes she has seen growing about her.”
These words appeared in the Daily Evening Herald of Stockton, California just six months after Joseph Warren Welch purchased Big Trees Grove. Many visitors to the grove witnessed evidence of the tree’s former occupation. To this day no one is sure who carved out the windows* and stove pipe hole or nailed the shelf upon its interior. Many stories circulated as early as 1835 that the "House Tree" was variously occupied by runaway sailors, an outlaw, tannery workers, a shoe cobbler and even a lumberman and his wife with a newborn child. Some documentation exists that it may have been a temporary home to both a logger and a hunter. The most famous story about a temporary resident of the Fremont Tree is that of its namesake, John Charles Frémont. But the tale of Frémont sleeping within this tree’s burnt out hollow in early 1846 arose many years after the explorer’s brief stay at the grove and remains in dispute.
The guides at Big Trees Grove perpetrated many of these fanciful stories. Perhaps to enhance the stories, grove caretakers furnished the hollow with a wood floor, bed, and wood stove. Unfortunately, no images have yet come to light which show the Fremont Tree’s furnished interior. If you have or know the location of any images that show the interior of this famous tree, I would love to hear from you.
The sketch below, showing two young girls sitting at the Fremont Tree’s entrance, is the only one so far that's come to light showing furnishings within the tree.
These words appeared in the Daily Evening Herald of Stockton, California just six months after Joseph Warren Welch purchased Big Trees Grove. Many visitors to the grove witnessed evidence of the tree’s former occupation. To this day no one is sure who carved out the windows* and stove pipe hole or nailed the shelf upon its interior. Many stories circulated as early as 1835 that the "House Tree" was variously occupied by runaway sailors, an outlaw, tannery workers, a shoe cobbler and even a lumberman and his wife with a newborn child. Some documentation exists that it may have been a temporary home to both a logger and a hunter. The most famous story about a temporary resident of the Fremont Tree is that of its namesake, John Charles Frémont. But the tale of Frémont sleeping within this tree’s burnt out hollow in early 1846 arose many years after the explorer’s brief stay at the grove and remains in dispute.
The guides at Big Trees Grove perpetrated many of these fanciful stories. Perhaps to enhance the stories, grove caretakers furnished the hollow with a wood floor, bed, and wood stove. Unfortunately, no images have yet come to light which show the Fremont Tree’s furnished interior. If you have or know the location of any images that show the interior of this famous tree, I would love to hear from you.
The sketch below, showing two young girls sitting at the Fremont Tree’s entrance, is the only one so far that's come to light showing furnishings within the tree.
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| Santa Cruz County: Resources, Advantages, Objects of Interest by Isabel Hammel Raymond, 1887 |
The photograph upon which this sketch was based is included in my book, Historic
Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park – Big Trees Grove. The photograph
was located in the Santa Cruz Historical Photographs Collection within
Special Collections at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
* Newspaper accounts vary on the number of windows
(from one to three) carved into the base of the Fremont Tree.
Note: Over the past 150 years all the man-made openings of the Fremont Tree have been sealed up by the growth of bark. The location of one healed over window now has the appearance of a shelf cut into the interior.
Source: Daily Evening Herald (Stockton,
California), May 22, 1868.
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