One of the most iconic trees in the UK has died, but its offspring lives on in CNY

WRVO | By Ellen Abbott

Published July 22, 2026 at 5:27 AM EDT

The Robin Hood Oak at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

The best known and one or the biggest oak trees in the United Kingdom's Sherwood Forest died earlier this year. Called the Major Oak, it became famous through fiction, as the hideout for Robin Hood and his Merry Men. But while the tree some estimate at over 1,000 years old has died, its progeny lives on in central New York.

The story of what’s called the Robin Hood Oak began more than a century ago. Don Leopold, a professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry says that’s when an ESF professor went to England to forage acorns from Sherwood Forest, underneath the Major Oak.

"It was collected roughly a hundred years ago in the fall by Nelson Brown," said Leopold. "He was one of the first professors at the School of Forestry, at the time the School of Forestry was just founded in 1911."

The acorn grew into a mature oak, named the Robin Hood Oak, and has become a beloved fixture on campus. Construction of a parking lot decades ago stressed the tree, so the school built a fence around it to keep it safe. Researchers at ESF, wanting to make sure nothing else happened to it, tried to figure out ways to propagate the oak. ESF alumna Allison Oakes said it’s not easy to scientifically create an exact copy of an oak tree.

"The Robin Hood Oak was sort of a challenge because people like, oh, the seeds don't germinate because it's hybridizing with, you know, North American oaks in in the woods and so that you don't get good offspring. Right. And so a little bit of a, well, could I tissue culture it?"

The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest in 1907.

She did and was able to successfully use that tissue culture to propagate an identical tree, ultimately the grandchildren of the Major Oak, now shade the entrance to the college’s library.

“Part of it was this idea to make sure that that tree, not just the individual, but you know, its essence is preserved at ESF."

Leopold said trees like the Major Oak, and Robin Hood Oak grow slowly. But live long lives, suggesting perhaps we can all learn a lesson from these grand trees.

"I wish I thought about this many, many decades ago, that trying to do so much so quickly, isn't necessarily the best strategy for a long and happy life," he said.