Trimming the Tidal Basin - The History of D.C.'s Flowering Cherry Trees

Trimming the Tidal Basin - The History of D.C.'s Flowering Cherry Trees

By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review

One of my long-standing bucket-list trips is to visit Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin in the spring, when the flowering cherry trees erupt into bloom. The trees have become such an iconic part of the city’s monuments and postcards that it’s hard to imagine the landscape without them. And yet, astonishingly, the cherry trees almost never existed at all. Even after they were planted, they were threatened with destruction more than once.

The Tidal Basin itself was created in the 1880s to manage flooding, keep silt out of the Washington Channel, and provide a recreational space for residents of the capital. Originally known as Twining Lake, after Major William Johnson Twining, the area was functional but uninspired. Aside from the Washington Monument, which appeared in 1885, the basin was largely bland and treeless.

Fortunately, one determined woman knew exactly what the space needed.

Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, author, traveler, and early photojournalist, had fallen in love with Japanese flowering cherry trees while traveling in Japan with her brother, U.S. diplomat George Hawthorne Scidmore. She believed the trees would transform the Tidal Basin into something beautiful and meaningful.

Almost no one agreed with her.

When Scidmore first proposed the idea, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, then responsible for the site, rejected it outright. Undeterred, she persisted, re-pitching the idea every time a new commander was appointed. For years, nothing came of it.

Her luck finally changed in 1909 with the election of President William Howard Taft. The First Lady, Helen Herron Taft, was both a friend of Scidmore’s and a devoted admirer of Japanese cherry trees. On April 5, 1909, Scidmore shared her vision with Mrs. Taft. Two days later, plans were underway to plant cherry trees along the basin.

International support followed quickly. Japanese chemist Jokichi Takamine donated 2,000 cherry trees in 1910 as a symbol of friendship between nations. Unfortunately, the trees arrived diseased and had to be destroyed. Refusing to give up, Takamine and Scidmore arranged a second shipment—3,000 trees—which arrived healthy in the spring of 1912.

On March 27, 1912, Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, the wife of Japan’s ambassador, planted the first two trees at the Tidal Basin with Eliza Scidmore and the press in attendance. Those two trees still stand today.

The cherry trees were an immediate success, and the basin became a beloved gathering place, though, like much of Washington at the time, it remained segregated.

The trees’ popularity would soon put them in danger again.

In the late 1930s, plans for the Jefferson Memorial threatened large portions of the grove. Even proposals to relocate trees failed to satisfy the public. On November 18, 1938, when Civilian Conservation Corps workers arrived to begin clearing the site, an unexpected rebellion broke out. A group of about 150 prominent Washington women, led by journalist Eleanor “Cissy” Patterson, chained themselves to the trees.

Rumor has it they wore full luncheon attire, fur coats and pearls included, and I like to imagine they were utterly unmovable. The Cherry Tree Rebellion lasted most of the day before a compromise was reached. The trees were relocated under the cover of darkness, largely because officials feared the protest would reignite.

Then came the greatest threat of all.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, anything associated with Japan became a target. The cherry trees were vandalized and rebranded as “Oriental Flowering Cherry Trees” to deflect hostility. Guards were stationed to protect them throughout World War II.

After the war, relations improved, but the story did not end there. Japan’s original cherry groves along the Arakawa River, the parent stock of Washington’s trees, had suffered wartime damage. In 1952, the United States sent cherry trees back to Japan to help restore the grove. Exchanges between the two countries have continued ever since.

One of Washington’s cherry trees even stands today in front of Yokohama Cemetery, near the grave of Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, the woman who refused to take “no” for an answer.

Today, it’s impossible to imagine Washington, D.C. without the cherry blossoms. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the capital’s most beloved annual events, and something I hope, one day, to finally see for myself.

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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

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