Betsy Williams Sycamore

Betsy Williams Sycamore. Roger Williams Park. , The magnificent Betsey Williams Sycamore is a beloved icon of Roger Williams Park, and the most famous tree in Rhode Island. It is estimated to be about 250 years old, planted shortly after the cottage was built in 1773., The American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, is one of the largest tree species in the eastern United States. It is distinguished by exfoliating bark that turns white in the upper canopy., The wooden tree braces supporting the branch were made from black locust collected from the park, and were built and installed by Kurato Fujimoto, a master gardener from Kanazawa, Japan, assisted by the Providence Parks' Forestry Division. The traditional Japanese tree brace supports are called "hoozue," the act of resting one's chin on one's hands., Did you know? , Anthracnose, a common foliar fungal disease turns the sycamore's leaves brown and they drop. The tree grows new leaves in early July; it has been responding to this its whole life!, [Captions:] , Clockwise from upper left, a historic photograph of the sycamore with Betsey Williams' Cottage in the background. A Saturday Evening Post publication from October 16, 1943, featuring the sycamore by Andrew Wyeth. December Sycamore by C.P. Mayer, 2015. Kurato Fujimoto building a brace in 2022. , Information and photos courtesy of the Roger Williams Park Museum of Natural History archives, RWP Conservancy, Providence Library, Douglas Still, Sam Greenwood, the National Register of Historic Places, Providence Journal, and "The Jewel of Providence" by David Marshall.