Hangman's Elm

{{Short description|English Elm tree in Manhattan, New York}}

Image:070129-SWR009.jpg

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Use American English|date=July 2024}}

Hangman's Elm, or simply "The Hanging Tree", is an English Elm located at the northwest corner in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. It stood at {{convert|135|ft|m}} tall when measured {{circa|2000}},{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/178639313/new-york-a-concrete-jungle-and-city-of-trees-too|title=New York: A Concrete Jungle And 'City Of Trees,' Too|website=NPR |date=April 30, 2013 |first1=Margot |last1=Adler |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509074847/https://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/178639313/new-york-a-concrete-jungle-and-city-of-trees-too |archive-date= May 9, 2023 }} and has a diameter of {{convert|67|in|m}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/great-trees?id=33 |title=Great Trees : English Elm |website=NYC Parks |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711030617/https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/great-trees?id=33 |archive-date=Jul 11, 2022 }}{{Cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLLUDAAAQBAJ | title=Trees of New York City| isbn=9781581574432| last1=Swett| first1=Benjamin| date=2017-03-14| publisher=The Countryman Press}}

In 1989, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation determined that this English Elm was 310 years old, although that was subsequently revised to "more than 300 years old". As a result, it is considered to be Manhattan's oldest,{{Cite web |title=The Hangman's Elm |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-hangmans-elm |access-date=2021-10-26 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}} outliving Peter Stuyvesant's pear tree at the northeast corner of 13th Street and Third Avenue, and the great Tulip poplar at Shorakapkok in Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The earliest references to the elm as a "hanging tree" date from the late 19th century, long after the supposed hangings were said to have taken place. Recent extensive research into the park's history by both an archaeologist {{cite book |first=Joan H. |last=Geismar, Ph.D., LLC |title=Washington Square Phase 1A Archaeological Assessment |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/910.pdf }} and a historian {{cite book |first=Luther |last=Harris |title=Around Washington Square: An Illustrated History of Greenwich Village}} has shown that the tree was on a private farm until the land was bought by the city and added to Washington Square in 1827. No public records exist of hangings from this tree.

The only recorded execution in this area was of Rose Butler, in 1820, for arson.{{Cite news |last=Schlossberg |first=Tatiana |date=2015-11-18 |title=New York Today: Nature, Preserved |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/nyregion/new-york-today-nature-preserved.html |access-date=2021-10-26 |issn=0362-4331}} She was hanged from a gallows in the city's potter's field, on the eastern side of Minetta Creek, about {{convert|500|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} from the elm; at that time, Minetta Creek ran in a shallow ravine between the potter's field and the farm where the elm stood.

File:Hangman's Elm, Washington Square Park, NYC (October 2023).jpg