MADERA — Say goodbye to the palm and the pine, a pair of trees with a storied history considered a treasure to those live in California’s Central Valley.
The landmark sits in the center median of Highway 99 between Fresno and Madera and is being uprooted because of a Caltrans widening project in 2025.
Larry Johnson, Caltrans District 6 spokesperson, said they want to get word out about the project as soon as possible.
“We know it’s very popular to the people but in order to do the project correctly, it had to be done this way,” Johnson said.
Historians believe the trees’ lore dates back at least a century. At one point, people thought the palm and the pine marked the center of California.
“I’m sure a lot of people pass by and don’t even realize or look at them but at one time, they thought this was the center of California—the pine tree for Northern California, the palm tree for Southern California,” Johnson said. “In this day and age, where we have GPS and everything else, we know it’s not true now, but back in the day, that’s what the lore was.”