The Japanese, or Saucer, Magnolia tree located near the Gate House at Riverside Cemetery has been the object of adoration and curiosity for years. Delicately shading the lot on which the English, Beeks, Solomon, and Hall families are interred, the Magnolia Soulangiana caught the eye of a local physician, Dr. Charles Cotton Harrold, who studied the tree’s unique characteristics in the 1940s. He affectionately referred to it as the “’English’ specimen.” This tree, he noted, “is always late and apparently never touched by cold.” He thought this species “valuable.”

Dr. Harrold, who died October 11, 1948, acquired a book about magnolias in 1929. Authored by J. G. Millais, the book titled “Magnolias” was published in 1927 and featured information, photographs and illustrations about the various species of trees. Dr. Harrold used this book as a journal to document his growing interest in the trees. He kept notes about where he acquired tree cuttings, to whom and to where he sent cuttings, where he planted trees, when the local trees bloomed, in whose yard and where the local trees could be located, and the different species in Macon. He was not, however, able to propagate cuttings from the “’English’ specimen.” As his interest grew, he became the premiere contact for tree cuttings, corresponding with and sending cuttings to nurseries and botanical gardens in places such as Hess Nursery - Mountain View, NJ; Birmingham, AL; Cincinnati, OH; Cape Cod Nursery – Falmouth, MA; San Jose, CA; Arnold Arboretum - Harvard University; and in Washington, New York, and Maryland. He also planted magnolia trees in Coleman Hill and Mulberry Street Park.

The book and Dr. Harrold’s notes are currently in the secure possession of Cecil R. Coke, Jr., Riverside Cemetery President.