A National Living Shrine

General Grant Tree, a National Living Shrine

This Memorial Day I would like to reflect on the General Grant Tree, the third largest tree by volume on the planet! We had the pleasure of seeing this giant sequoia tree on our visit to Kings Canyon National Park in central California. And boy is it a true giant! Did you know it would take about 20 people holding hands to make a complete circle around it? And, if the tree trunk could be filled with sports equipment, it could hold about 159,000 basketballs or 37 million ping pong balls!

On March 29, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared the General Grant Tree a "National Shrine", a memorial to honor the men and women of the armed forces who died in war. It is our country’s only national living shrine, and it is also the nation’s Christmas Tree! The tree was named in 1867 after Ulysses S. Grant, Union Army general and the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877).

General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park 

Nancy and Lisa had a “Generals & Giants” radio conversation with author/historian “Military Mike” who talked about General Grant, and General Sherman who has the largest tree (by volume) named after him. You can find that giant tree in Sequoia National Park, which is adjacent to Kings Canyon National Park…just follow the Generals Highway to get there! You can hear their conversation here on our site, NationalParkTraveling.com. 

Happy Memorial Day,
Miss P.