The sequoia of Kappelbronn

This giant sequoia has a special story. It was planted in 1896 in memory of Louis Butze, a little boy who died of diphtheria aged 4. His father, a forest ranger, planted the tree near the house and his son's play area. The forest ranger's brother, the child's uncle, was a priest at the great seminary in Monaco and had brought two trees back to his brother. The second sequoia was planted and grew near the child's grave at Lutzelhouse cemetery until 1976. All that remains is a huge stump that you can see at the top, to the right of Scheidecker Chapel.< /br>
To keep the memory alive, Lutzelhouse Council and the National Forestry Office planted two other sequoias in 1977/78, one near the cemetery and one on the forest's edge.
Its circumference is 7.07m and it stands 1.5m off the ground.
by Joseph HECKLY