The Tory Oak

For two and a half centuries the Tory Oak grew strong and stately in the center of Wilkesboro, a symbol of the revolutionary struggle that led to the founding.

The tree stood on the courthouse grounds and took its name from the tradition that Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, returning from the Revolutionary fighting in the fall of 1780, hanged captured Loyalist raiders from its limbs. Whatever the exact record, the name held for two hundred years and the oak became the emblem of the town.

Age and storms finally brought the old tree down at the end of the twentieth century. Seedlings and cuttings taken from it have been planted on the grounds so that a descendant of the original oak continues on the same square, and the site remains a stop for visitors to the historic district.