Centennial Stump

Centennial Stump is the broad remains of a giant sequoia on the paved General Grant Tree loop. I’d take the full one-third-mile circuit: it also passes the living General Grant Tree, Gamlin Cabin and Fallen Monarch. The stump is a worthwhile history stop along the walk, not a separate outing; if you can only choose one feature in the grove, see the living General Grant Tree first.

The sequoia was cut in 1875, before the park was established, and shipped east in sections for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. A 16-foot section went to the 1876 exhibition; only the tree’s outer shell was shown, reassembled after shipping. People who saw it thought the story was too hard to believe and called it the “California Hoax.” The stump stayed close to the General Grant Tree, leaving the display’s history right beside the living sequoias.

The stump is 24 feet across, a broad low ring on the forest floor. Look from it to the living sequoias still standing around the loop; the contrast is the point of this stop. For a photo, keep the stump and its brown interpretive sign together so the image carries both the scale and the story.