The Pow-Wow Oak was an historic tree located in the Belvidere neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts. This 300-year-old tree is believed to have served as a gathering place for pow wows held by the Native American Wamesit tribe.
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In 1909, Middlesex County decided to pave Clark Road. Soon thereafter a local resident donated 9,463 square feet of his land on Clark Road for one cent to the City of Lowell so as to preserve the Pow-Wow Oak, which stood in the middle of the road.
In May 1931, the Molly Varnum Chapter of the Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) erected a sign next to the tree to commemorate the ancient oak, the Wamesit Indians, and the local militia who passed by it while traveling through that Lowell neighborhood (then still part of the town of Tewksbury) during the Revolutionary War. [1] [2]
The Pow-Wow Oak was recognized and preserved by the American Forests Historic Trees Program, [3] and by the City of Lowell via the Pow Wow Oak Tree Preservation Covenant, which was recorded on March 12, 2012, at the Middlesex (North District) Registry of Deeds, Book 25799, Page 105.
On May 21, 2013, during a very strong wind storm, a large upper branch of the Pow-Wow Oak collapsed onto nearby Clark Road. [4] The following day, a decision was made by the City Manager's Office of the City of Lowell to cut down the tree to the ground because extensive interior decay in the mid to upper sections of the tree had more than partially compromised the tree and the safety of pedestrians and nearby motorists. [5]
On Thursday, November 12, 2015, a dedication ceremony was held at the Peter W. Reilly Elementary School on Douglas Road in Lowell, MA, commemorating the installation of a permanent display of a huge round piece of the trunk of the Pow-Wow Oak. In 2012, a local group known as the Pow-Wow Oak Protectors restored the 1931 D.A.R. sign, and built a granite memorial and stone markers which stand at the stump of the oak across from 273 Clark Road. As of recent times in the locale of where the tree was located now grows a maple tree as a continuation of its heritage. [6]
