{"id":51002,"date":"2026-05-05T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=51002"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:27:39","slug":"paulding-county-plants-heritage-tree-to-mark-america-250-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/paulding-county-plants-heritage-tree-to-mark-america-250-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"Paulding County Plants Heritage Tree to Mark America 250 Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1016\" height=\"521\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/heritage-tree-planting.jpg?fit=1016%2C521&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51003\" style=\"width:555px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/heritage-tree-planting.jpg?w=1016&amp;ssl=1 1016w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/heritage-tree-planting.jpg?resize=768%2C394&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Paulding County Commissioners and Paulding FFA members pose with the Heritage Tree that was planted on the PC Courthouse lawn on April 29, 2026 in observance of America 250 celebration.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">PAULDING \u2013 Paulding County officially joined Ohio\u2019s America 250 celebration with the planting of its Heritage Tree on the courthouse lawn on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The event brought together Paulding FFA Chapter officers, Paulding County Commissioners, and community leaders as they planted a white oak tree\u2014part of a statewide initiative to place one Heritage Tree in each of Ohio\u2019s 88 counties. The program honors Ohio\u2019s role in the nation\u2019s founding while encouraging communities to preserve their local history and invest in future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"318\" height=\"398\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/heritage-tree-Paulding.jpg?fit=318%2C398&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51004\" style=\"width:250px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Anna Gurney of the Paulding Soil and Water Conservation District played a key role in coordinating the planting and organizing the ceremony, helping ensure the event reflected both the county\u2019s heritage and its forward-looking spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">A highlight of the ceremony was the soil presentation conducted by FFA students. Soil collected from meaningful locations across Paulding County\u2014including farms, schools, parks, and other significant sites\u2014was brought together and poured at the base of the newly planted tree. The act symbolized the county\u2019s shared roots and its continued growth into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The white oak, designated as Paulding County\u2019s Heritage Tree, stands as a lasting tribute to the community\u2019s past, present, and future. The planting marks the beginning of local efforts to commemorate America 250, with additional events, celebrations, and projects expected to take place throughout the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAULDING \u2013 Paulding County officially joined Ohio\u2019s America 250 celebration with the planting of its Heritage Tree on the courthouse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1464,2335],"tags":[28868,14200,28867,5367,5773],"class_list":["post-51002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-history-community","category-nature-2","tag-america-250","tag-anna-gurney","tag-heritage-tree","tag-paulding-county-commissioners","tag-paulding-ffa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/heritage-tree-planting.jpg?fit=1016%2C521&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-dgC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 10:08:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51005,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51002\/revisions\/51005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}