Tacoma Silent Trees: 1910 Bigleaf Maple Breaking Silence

“In my youth, maybe when I was 4 years old, I remember how excited the neighborhood became after George and Mary Demich opened their “mom and pop” grocery store in 1914 at the corner of North 45th and Orchard Street,” explains the Bigleaf Maple on North Orchard Street between North 41st and North 42nd in Tacoma. “From this backyard, I could see my owners skipping to the North 45th Street Grocery & Meat Market, ideally located on a streetcar line. They were thrilled to have access to Medosweet Ice Cream and Ghirardelli’s Chocolate within walking distance.”

“What happened to the store?” Peaks & Pints asked.

“It was demolished after George died in 1958,” replied the Bigleaf Maple.

Peaks & Pints first partnered with Tacoma Tree Foundation, or TTF, in the fall of 2019, pairing our then-house beer, Kulshan Brewing Tree-dimensional IPA, with TFF-selected trees around Tacoma. For 2024-25, we brewed our eighth house IPA at Loowit Brewing in downtown Vancouver. Since the brewery is named after Mount St. Helens and its eruption silenced many trees, we named the beer Silent Trees IPA and have partnered with the Tacoma Tree Foundation, once again, to tell the stories of their favorite trees. The TFF sent us to lurk into the backyard of the house built in 1910 on North Orchard between North 41st and North 42nd to chat with the Bigleaf Maple.

Bigleaf Maple Breaks Silence from North Orchard Street Backyard

“Before I was planted, North End real estate developer Allen C. Mason completed the Point Defiance Line trolley system in 1890, later selling it to Tacoma Railway & Power Co., rambled the chatty Bigleaf Maple. “As I mentioned, the trolley car stopped at North 45th and Orchard Streets, where passengers were required to pay a second nickel to continue to Point Defiance Park. The stop became known as ‘Poor Man’s Corner’ as many riders departed and walked to the park to save a nickel. This area was a single farm then, but after my planting, I watched the subdividing and development of all the adjacent lots.”

Today, Pierce Transit buses still follow the route of Mason’s original line.

Bigleaf Maple | Acer macrophyllum

“The English and scientific name of this week’s silent tree get straight to the point — the leaves on this tree are big. So big that the Coast Salish tribes have historically used them to store food, “explains Adela Ramos, director of Partnerships and Communications at Tacoma Tree Foundation. “Bigleaf Maples are usually 12 inches wide but can be up to 24 inches wide, and their stalk can be 12 inches long! Like most maple leaves, they have five lobes, meaning they have five rounded projections extending out from their center, rounded like your ear lobes. This beautiful tree of mammoth leaves also reaches gargantuan heights, especially when exposed to a steady stream of sunlight: it can be up to 160 feet tall at its maximum height.”

It is the only native maple of the coastal Pacific Northwest and, with the red alder, one of our native hardwood tree species.

“If its massive leaves are not enough to help you recognize it, look for their fruit, which hangs in elongated clusters, and each one looks like a pair of wings,” adds Ramos. “In the spring, they give yellowish tiny flowers that droop from their twigs. When bigleaf maples are young, their bark is smooth and greenish-brown, and as they reach for the skies, it turns blackish and is deeply ridged, strong, and fibrous, which is why the Coast Salish tribes use it to make rope and baskets. We love this colossal maple for its beautiful green leaves in the summer, which can double as an elegant green fan to cool you off on a hot day, and its intense yellow fall color that lights up our urban canopy. But we love it most because it lives in a community with other local favorites: if you find a bigleaf maple, you’re also likely to find the Doug-fir, western redcedar, western hemlock, the Pacific rhododendron, and salmonberry, among other native trees and shrubs with whom it interacts, benefits from, and gives back to.”

Check out this bigleaf maple at North Orchard and 42ns Street without disturbing the homeowners,  and then head to the Proctor District for a pint or Campfire Crowler of Loowit Silent Trees IPA (6.6%) at Peaks & Pints. Loowit Brewing in Vancouver, Washington, collaborated with the Tacoma craft beer lodge on their house beer. Paying homage to trees and outdoor enthusiasts who join Peaks daily in Tacoma’s Proctor District, Silent Trees IPA is the perfect beer to toast passing trees on powder, currents, or trails and reveal the sprains. Silent Trees IPA continues Peaks & Pints’ love affair with old-school piney IPAs, this time brewed with Simcoe, Columbus, and Chinook for all the pine and citrus.

Cheers to mountainous maples and supportive communities of people and plants!” concludes Ramos.

Tree-mendous Tacoma Beer Week

As part of Tacoma Beer Week, Peaks will host a fundraiser for Tacoma Tree Foundation with Loowit Brewing from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, at Peaks & Pints. It will be a Tree-mendous night with tree education, tree games, and piney goodness to support community greening efforts in the Greater Tacoma area, Pierce County, and the watersheds of Puget Sound. Executive Director Lowell Wyse will briefly discuss their work while everyone drinks Loowit beer. Board President Luke Vannice will briefly talk about the challenges Tacoma is facing and what they’re doing about it. Loowit Head Brewer and co-owner Landon Smith will discuss his brewery and the beers on tap. Peaks & Pints co-owner Pappi Swarner will discuss the current Silent Trees Series. The night’s draft proceeds benefit the Tacoma Tree Foundation.

LINK: Loowit Silent Trees IPA inspires Tacoma Tree stories

LINK: Tacoma Silent Trees: Breaking Silence near the Rhododendron Garden

LINK: Tacoma Silent Trees: Breaking Silence at Swan Creek Park

LINK: Tacoma Silent Trees: Breaking Silence Near People’s Park

LINK: Tacoma Silent Trees: Breaking Silence at Oak Tree Park

LINK: Kulshan brews Peaks and Pints Tree-dimensional IPA