2. The Queens Giant is the oldest and tallest tree in NYC
Many New Yorkers would probably expect the tallest tree in the city to stand in Central Park or Prospect Park, or perhaps even the forests of Staten Island. However, the tallest and oldest tree in the city is in Alley Pond Park on the border of Douglaston and Bayside. The Queens Giant, as it is often called, stands at over 134 feet and above 19 feet in girth (it was last measured in 2005). Estimates date it back to well over 350 years ago; the New York Times back in 2004 claimed that it could be as old as 450 years old. The tulip tree was likely just a sapling around the time of (or shortly after) New Amsterdam. It was likely that the tree was already well over a century old when George Washington passed by in 1790.
The tree has been quite difficult to find and access for its very long history. It is located near Douglaston Plaza and now protected by a small fence. Parks Commissioners have defended the decision to keep the tree in relative obscurity to prevent people from jeopardizing its health and long life. Given that tulip trees can live to over 600 years old, the Queens Giant still has plenty of years to go. The tree has survived New York’s rapid urbanization, from Dutch colonization to the modern metropolis it is today. With 5.2 million trees in the city, only one other comes close to the Queens Giant. Another tree of the same species in Clove Lakes, Staten Island, stands at 119 feet tall, making it shorter than the Queens Giant but not younger. “If we leave it undisturbed, it may live among us for another hundred years or so,” a plaque by the tree reads.