Baltimore’s historic dawn redwood tree destroyed by lightning, ‘literally exploded’

One of Baltimore’s most photographed trees fell victim to lightning over Memorial Day weekend.

During Memorial Day’s evening thunderstorms, fast winds brought down trees in the area while lightning reportedly hit a home in Towson. The 60-year-old dawn redwood tree at Baltimore’s Cylburn Arboretum was among the trees struck.

“The tree literally exploded throwing wood and branches all over the lawn,” Cylburn Arboretum Friends, the nonprofit that partners with the city of Baltimore to care for public gardens, said in a Tuesday post on Instagram.

Cylburn Arboretum is home to many species of trees, and the dawn redwood tree sits in front of one of the most visited places in Cylburn Mansion, making it one of the most photographed trees in the city.

The tree anchored three of the gardens to which the Cylburn Arboretum Friends tends. The nonprofit has partnered with the city of Baltimore since 1954 to maintain the arboretum’s grounds and gardens and hosts school field trips three days a week, among other events.

“The dawn redwood was probably the most photographed tree,” said Brooke Fritz, executive director of Cylburn Arboretum Friends in an email. “Weddings, engagement proposals, baby pictures, children playing under its beautiful limbs — our visitors loved to document their lives under our beautiful tree. The loss of this tree will be felt by many people from our regular visitors to those who had a special moment in its shade years ago, to our City’s school children coming on a trip.”

Fossil records show that this type of tree is known to have existed as many as 50 million years ago, but it was not discovered growing in the wild until 1941, Fritz said. A forester collected seeds and now many arboretums have these trees.

Redwood trees are native to China, but were grown as status symbols in the United States, said Rob Prenger, regional forester of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The dawn redwood tree was specifically planted as part of its agricultural design. People could still see them in cemeteries, yards and parks. However, it’s unlikely to find another redwood tree of the same size as the dawn redwood tree.

“They are planted as ornamentals,” Prenger said. “There are plenty of other ones in Baltimore, but in our lifetime, you won’t see another tree like the one at Cylburn. They aren’t as rare as you would think, but it’s a shame to lose a large and healthy tree like the dawn redwood.”