Mifflin County municipalities each receive Liberty Trees
Ceremony commemorates nation’s 250th anniversary
Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER<br> Pictured are the oak saplings distributed to every municipality in Mifflin County on Friday.
Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER<br> Pictured from left are Mifflin County Commissioner Noah Wise, Lewistown Mayor Deborah Bargo, and Commissioner Kevin Kodish.
Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER<br> Pictured is the Allensville Liberty Tree, planted in 1976 to commemorate the nation’s bicentennial celebration.
Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER<br> Pictured are the oak saplings distributed to every municipality in Mifflin County on Friday.
Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER<br> Pictured from left are Mifflin County Commissioner Noah Wise, Lewistown Mayor Deborah Bargo, and Commissioner Kevin Kodish.
Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER<br> Pictured is the Allensville Liberty Tree, planted in 1976 to commemorate the nation’s bicentennial celebration.
Trending
ALLENSVILLE -- The Allensville Fireman's Festival honoring America's 250th anniversary on Friday night seemed like the perfect place to acknowledge the Liberty Trees that officials distributed to every municipality in Mifflin County.
Across the Juniata River Valley, municipalities celebrate the Nation's 250th birthday. From parties to parades, each township and borough has shown its love for its country.
Every municipality in Mifflin County received a 6- to 8-foot oak sapling to plant in their community; Metzler Forest Products donated the trees.
In 1776, the first Liberty Trees were presented at a celebration in downtown Lewistown.
The last time municipalities received commemorative Liberty Trees was in 1976 during the nation's bicentennial celebration where officials from 10 townships and six boroughs were in attendance.
Steve Dunkle, the ceremony coordinator, noted in his letter to the townships involved in the ceremony that he was surprised Liberty Trees were not distributed during the semiquincentennial on July 4 this year. So, he was determined to hold a Liberty Tree presentation in observance of the nation's 250th anniversary.
Samuel E. Hayes Jr., former majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and former state secretary of agriculture under Gov. Tom Ridge, along with the Mifflin County Commissioners, presented the trees this year.
The Liberty Tree represents freedom as a big part of the American Revolutionary War.
According to the America250Pa website, the Sons of Liberty convened under the nation's original Liberty Tree in Boston to discuss their opposition to British rule. The tree became a symbol of freedom, and when the British destroyed the original tree, those in the original 13 colonies designated new Liberty Trees.
According to America250Pa, the last known original Liberty Tree sat on the campus of Saint John's University in Maryland until it was destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Today, seeds from a scion of the original tree are being collected, grown into seedlings, and planted across the Commonwealth.
The website added that the Commonwealth's goal is to plant a certified, cloned descendant of the original Liberty Tree in all 67 counties of Pennsylvania.