The Last Living Link to Ground Zero Still Stands Near Where the Twin Towers Once Did, 25 Years Later
The Last Living Link to Ground Zero Still Stands Near Where the Twin Towers Once Did, 25 Years Later
Sam GilletteFri, September 11, 2026 at 4:41 PM UTC
0
The “Survivor Tree” at the 9/11 Memorial; Messages of hope are left by the tree.Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty; Catherine Robotis/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty -
A Callery Pear tree survived the 9/11 attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and remains a symbol of resilience 25 years later
It was found damaged and charred in the rubble of the Twin Towers, but was brought back to health by staff of the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation
At a planting ceremony in December 2010, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the story of the tree “will live on and inspire many”
As Americans revisit the haunting images and heartbreaking calls from the attacks on New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, a marred Callery pear tree known as the “Survivor Tree” continues to flourish at the same site 25 years later.
On that late summer day in 2001, the Twin Towers fell after they were struck by two planes. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth was brought down in Shanksville, Pa. The coordinated terrorist attacks left nearly 3,000 people dead.
But amid the debris and ash at the World Trade Center site, the damaged tree was found, according to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
“In October 2001, the tree with lifeless limbs, snapped roots and blackened trunk was discovered,” the organization said, “and freed from the piles of smoldering rubble in the plaza of the World Trade Center.”
The collapse of the South Tower at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.Credit: Thomas Nilsson/ Getty
The following month, the injured tree was about eight feet tall when it was brought to the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation’s Arthur Ross Nursery in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. There, city employees nursed the tree back to health.
By December 2010, the tree was about 30 feet tall and was brought back to the World Trade Center, where it was planted in the 9/11 Memorial Plaza in a ceremony attended by local officials, according to a press release from the Department of Parks & Recreation at the time.
“The presence of the Survivor Tree on the Memorial Plaza will symbolize New York City’s and this nation’s resilience after the attacks,” then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at the ceremony on Dec. 22, 2010.
Advertisement
“Like the thousands of courageous stories of survival that arose from the ashes of the World Trade Center,” he continued, “the story of this tree also will live on and inspire many.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg watched as trees were planted in 2010.Credit: Hiroko Masuike/Getty
More than 15 years later, the tree stands tall and is stronger than ever.
“The Survivor Tree is a living reminder of resilience, survival, and rebirth,” the 9/11 Memorial & Museum said. For a decade, from 2013 to 2023, the organization gave away Callery pear seedlings to communities recovering from large tragedies.
Now, visitors continue to flock to the Survivor Tree and leave messages on the metal railing that encircles it.
— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“Too many lives lost, but so many heroes,” read one message, according to a video of the tree shared by Secret NYC on Thursday, Sept. 10, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Another person wrote, “We will never forget! Thank you for your sacrifice!”
on People
Source: “AOL Breaking”
