The Hercules Tree in the

Mountain Home Grove Mountain Home Grove is a grove of giant sequoia trees located in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and includes some of the largest trees in the world. Description Mountain Home Grove is located partly in Balc ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

is a living

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia) is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the la ...

tree that has a room carved into the center of it. It is also known as the "Room Tree".

History

A wealthy rancher from

Lindsay, California Lindsay is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 12,659 at the 2020 census. Lindsay is located southeast of Visalia and north of Porterville and is considered part of the Visalia-Porterville Metropolitan Ar ...

, named Jesse Hoskins (1849–1908) in 1884 purchased an eighty-acre tract of giant sequoia trees in the southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

government and named it Camp Lena. Hoskins, who spent his summers among the Camp Lena sequoias, chose biblical and classical themed names for the largest trees, and placed wooden name plates twenty feet off the ground on many of the better-known ones. After spending several summers studying one giant tree that he named the Hercules Tree, he decided that he could carve out the center of it without damaging the tree, and with the help of a Mr. Meyers between 1897 and 1902 he drilled and hand cut a 12 feet (3.7 m) diameter by 9 feet (2.7 m) high room, to which he added a hinged wooden door. Hoskins tried living in this room, but it leaked

sap Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...

, so he made it into a gift shop where he sold redwood trinkets made of wood left over from carving out the room. The Camp Lena tract remained in Hoskins' family until 1913, when it was sold. Although timber sales in 1956 resulted in some logging that was condemned by the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, the Hercules Tree and various other large redwoods in the immediate vicinity were exempted. The Hercules Tree was protected for all time in 1977 when the Camp Lena tract was purchased by the State of California and incorporated into the Mountain Home State Demonstration Forest. A fire started by a

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

butt on 4 September 1984 did cause some damage to the tree, and the door and Hoskins' name plate have since been stolen, but otherwise the tree is still standing, and the room can still be entered.

History

See also

References

Further reading