By the Long Branch Neighbourhood Association
Long Branch residents love their iconic trees.
Big Red is a towering 200-year-old Northern Red Oak and the first ever designated heritage tree in Long Branch.
It stands 33-meters tall at the corner of Park Blvd., and Long Branch Avenue, and sure has many stories to tell.
Big Red is one of the few remaining old red oaks in the area having survived a fire in 1958 which burned down the Long Branch Hotel.
Long Branch, originally named “Long Branch Park” after New Jersey’s famous seaside resort, was a popular getaway for Toronto city dwellers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Big Red is a Northern Red Oak and has been around for 200 years and is loved in the community.
Families purchased villa lots to build summer cottages, and visitors enjoyed recreational activities from boating and tennis to dancing and dining in outdoor pavilions.
This oak has witnessed the arrival of the Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway, the rise and decline of the resort community in Long Branch and the shift into Long Branch becoming an all-year round thriving neighbourhood.
Majestic Big Red as seen from the Cenotaph.
Today, Big Red continues to watch over the neighbourhood, and towers over the Legion’s 101 Long Branch Cenotaph.