Friday, April 24th, 2026
Ellery Park (Liberty Park) | Corner of Thames & Farewell Streets
1:30pm t0 2:30pm| Free Public Event
Hosted by the City of Newport Tree and Open Space Commission in partnership with the Newport Historical Society.
As Newport’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence continues, the city’s champions of history and preservation will gather on Arbor Day to celebrate the planting of a new Liberty Tree in William Ellery Park.
Newport’s original Liberty Tree, likely inspired by a similar gathering spot in Boston, was first used by the Sons of Liberty as a rallying place to protest the Stamp Act at the intersection of Thames and Farewell Streets. The land was officially deeded to the city in 1766 by William Read, who declared that “the said tree forever hereafter be known as the Tree of Liberty…and that the same stand as a Monument of the Spirited and Noble Opposition made to the Stamp Act in the year One Thousand seven hundred and Sixty-five, by the Sons of Liberty.”
The new tree is the fifth iteration since colonial times, with past Liberty Trees suffering from disease or, in the case of 1776, being cut down by rival British troops.