While the tree might not look like any other park tree, it has an amount of significance.

It’s a descendant of the last Revolutionary-era “Liberty Tree” and it was dedicated during an event held at the park on Saturday.

Planting the tree is an initiative undertaken by the Masons Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and AmericaPA250, the organization created by the General Assembly to coordinate celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday.

PJ Roup, Right Worshipful Senior Grand Warden with the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, said during Saturday’s ceremony that Gen. Joseph Warren park is the right location for such a tree planting.

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton PJ Roup, Right Worshipful Senior Grand Warden with the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Masons, was one of the speakers during Saturday’s event to dedicate a “Liberty Tree,” also shown here, at Gen. Joseph Warren Park in Warren.

He then highlighted the connections between the nation’s founding and Freemasonry, including nine signers of the Declaration of Constitution, dozens of Revolutionary generals and 13 of 39 signers of the Constitution.

Roup said Benjamin Franklin was once Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and that Masonic teachings helped form George Washington into the leader he became.

He also cited another Mason — Dr. Joseph Warren, citing Warren’s words — “Now is no time for one of America’s children to shrink from the most hazardous duty; I will either set my country free, or shed my last drop of blood to make her so.”

Roup said this tree is a “tangible connection to the past” but added that Freemasonry’s ideals are too as the “threads that hold American together.”

Youth served as the color guard and sang the National Anthem and Sen. Scott Hutchinson called that “fitting.”

He acknowledged that celebrating the 250th requires looking back and reflecting but also looking “forward to the future of America with hope.”

He said he’s hopeful the celebrations will “rally the community around the ideals America stands for.”

City of Warren Councilman Maurice Cashman presented both on the history of Warren as well as the life of Dr. Warren.

Cashman said 14 states have counties named after Warren as well as 30 townships, five ships and the public square in Savannah, Ga.

He added that there are three Warren statues — one here, one at Bunker Hill where Warren was killed and one at the Roxbury Latin School where Warren attended.

At the outset of the American Revolution, the Sons of Liberty would frequently gather under what became known as the Liberty Tree.

The trend grew, with Liberty Trees popping up throughout the colonies.

The last one fell in the 1990s but seeds from an offshoot of that tree have been preserved.

According to America250PA, the last Liberty Tree was located on the campus of Saint John’s University in Maryland until it was destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

“Today, seeds from a scion of the original tree are being collected, grown into seedlings, and planted across the Commonwealth,” they say. “Generously sponsored by and in partnership with the Pennsylvania Freemasons, America250PA’s Liberty Tree Project includes a certified Liberty Tree planted in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties beginning in the Fall of 2021, through 2026.”

The Liberty Tree planted this week is a tulip poplar, a fast growing species that can grow to 80 to 120 feet and live for a century.