Named in honor of Revolutionary War general and university founder William Richardson Davie, the tree is approximately 300 to 375 years old.

The story is not true – the university's location was chosen by a six-man committee in November 1792 – and the tree was named by Cornelia Phillips Spencer in the late 1800s to commemorate the legend.

A steel band was added to Davie Poplar in 1953 to attach cables to other trees, and the base has been filled with concrete and pruned to keep it upright.

[1] As part of the university's bicentennial celebration in 1993, 100 seedlings from the tree were given to 100 children planted across North Carolina's 100 counties.

[1] Where the trees were planted is not known, except for the Burke County seedling, which is in front of Table Rock Middle School.