A mature red hawthorne tree stands to the south, planted around 1930 under the direction of the Garden Clubs of Illinois to beautify the highways leading to Lincoln's New Salem. Several organizations, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, dug hundreds of young native trees from nearby farms and planted them along Illinois Routes 97, 125 and 29. The surviving specimens remind people that the people of Illinois have long cherished their association with the 16th President of the United States.