The Treaty Tree

Location: Holland and St. Francis Streets, Saugatuck

Date: 1830s-1840s

Local historian May Francis Heath related the story that William G. Butler, the founder of Saugatuck, used a the large maple tree on this site as the place to meet with local Indian chiefs about land-use and other issues. It was in 1890 that Mrs. Heath blocked the cutting of the tree by village workers by sitting under it, with baby in arms, until the tree cutters moved on.