Nestled at the quiet end of a cul-de-sac in East Hempfield Township stands a living monument to the earliest days of Pennsylvania’s history—an ancient American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) estimated to be at least 375 years old. Known locally as Lancaster County’s Old Sycamore, this remarkable tree was already well over a century old when William Penn arrived in the New World in 1682.
The sycamore stands on land granted in 1718 as part of a Penn land patent to some of the region’s first European settlers. Long before modern warehouses and roadways hemmed it in, this tree towered over open meadows and farmland in a forested landscape known as Penn’s Woods. Today, it remains a green sentinel from the colonial era, its immense, weathered trunk bearing silent witness to more than three centuries of regional transformation.
As early as 1900, Pennsylvania’s state forestry department estimated the tree to be over 250 years old. Fast-forward 125 years to 2025, and that places the tree’s age at no less than 375 years. A lightning strike in 1957 left its massive trunk visibly hollow, but the tree has endured. In 1982, the Pennsylvania Forestry Association reaffirmed its historic status, recognizing the sycamore as over 300 years old.
More recent measurements taken in 2014 recorded a trunk circumference of 25 feet (300 inches), a height of 69.5 feet, and a crown spread of 117 feet. At its prime, the tree reached an estimated 105 feet in height. Even in its current weathered state, arborists rank it as Lancaster County’s second-largest sycamore and the 25th-largest in Pennsylvania, a status it likely would have surpassed had its trunk remained whole.
The tree has inspired awe across generations. In 1981, Halfred Wertz and Joy Calendar described it in Penn’s Woods 1682–1982: The Oldest Trees in Pennsylvania as:
“A more pathetic yet heroic sight would be hard to find in the world of trees.”
It is even the namesake of nearby roads—Plane Tree Drive and Old Tree Drive—as well as the Old Sycamore Industrial Park, ensuring its legacy is rooted not only in soil but in the geography and economy of the region.
Though it no longer stands as tall or straight as it once did, the Grant Noll Sycamore (named after the nearby farmhouse) remains a revered natural landmark. Its continued presence offers a rare, living connection to the time before Pennsylvania was a state when it was still Pennsylvania, the “Penn’s Woods” of colonial legend.
Where To Go
The tree stands at the end of the road at 265 Plane Tree Drive, Lancaster, PA 17603. Please park respectfully in the surrounding neighborhood and observe the tree from a safe distance. It remains a living organism and a fragile piece of Lancaster’s natural heritage.
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Resources
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1864 Map of East Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, PAPrice range: $24.99 through $25.98