Cotton Tree

The Cotton Tree is the biggest landmark in Sierra Leone. It stands in the oldest part of Freetown.  The age of the tree is unknown but it existed in 1787 when the first settlers arrived. It is believed that when the African American slaves arrived here free from the American War of independence, they rested and prayed underneath the Cotton Tree. Today, the Cotton Tree is seen as a historical symbol of not only Freetown but Sierra Leone as a whole. Sierra Leonians still pray and make offerings to the ancestors for peace and prosperity beneath the great ancestry Cotton Tree. You will find it today at the centre of a roundabout and surrounded by a concrete fence.