It would have been so much easier to take a chain saw to the lone tree that stood exactly where Hereford United Methodist Church plans to build a Family Life Center.

But many church members believe the tree, grown from an acorn off Maryland’s famous Wye Oak, deserves a second chance.

The tree was dug up and replanted March 13 on the church property out of the construction zone. The tree was moved from behind the church at the intersection of York and Monkton roads and planted on the York Road side of the property, opposite Hereford Plaza.

“There’s a good chance the tree won’t make it, but we were told this is the best time of year to transplant it, so we’re giving it a try,” said Mark Aitken, chairman of the church’s building committee. “We’re going to put fertilizer in the hole and then give the tree water and prayers.”

The move didn’t occur as effortlessly as planned, perhaps because the dig date was Friday the 13th.
When Randy Childress, owner of Delta Nursery, attempted to dig a hole for the tree, he ran into rubble from an old house torn down in June 2003.

It was known as the Tipton house, built as a log cabin in 1833. Over the years, it was enlarged and in 2003 was an empty two-story duplex owned by the church. It had deteriorated so much it was deemed a hazard and razed.

Before the tree could go into the 7-foot-wide and 5-foot-deep hole, building debris, including a huge chunk of cement that was believed to be the cellar steps, was lifted out of the ground.

Childress then used a tree spade to dig up the Wye Oak.

The trunk of the 25-foot tree is 12 inches in diameter. ?

The original Wye Oak, that grew to be an estimated 450 years old in Wye Mills, Talbott County, split apart during a thunderstorm June 6, 2002.

State foresters had already been growing offspring from its acorns prior to 2002, and now acorns from those trees are producing more generations of Wye Oak.

Thousands have been planted in Maryland and across the United States.

Construction of Hereford United Methodist Church’s 8,375-square foot Family Life Center, with multipurpose room, classrooms, commercial kitchen and offices is underway.

The same day the tree was transplanted, crews torn down the cinderblock and brick building that housed the Hereford Food Bank to make way for the new Center. The food bank now operates out of a prefabricated building behind the church. It is accessible by Firehouse Lane, which separates the church property from Hereford Volunteer Fire Company.

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