Amazing Photos of People With Giant Trees in the Early 20th Century ~ Vintage Everyday

At the turn of the 20th century, giant trees fascinated photographers and the public alike, becoming powerful symbols of nature’s grandeur and endurance. Images of people standing beside these towering trunks were not only striking for their scale but also served to highlight the contrast between human fragility and the timeless strength of the natural world.

Such photos often featured redwoods and sequoias in California, whose immense size had already become legendary. Tourists, loggers, and locals would pose against their massive trunks, sometimes driving vehicles through carved-out passages or standing inside hollowed bases. These images celebrated both the wonder of untouched wilderness and, paradoxically, the era’s rapid expansion of logging and development.

In other regions, monumental oaks, baobabs, and other native species also became the subjects of early 20th-century photography. Capturing people with these trees offered a way to measure their astonishing scale and to remind viewers of the living monuments that predated human history.

These amazing photos capture the awe-inspiring scale of nature’s giants, showing how small we appear beside the towering trees of a century ago.

Arbol del Tule "Tronco" Oaxaca Oax.

Arbol del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico

At Richardson Grove State Park - Dia. 13.8 ft. Age 1250 yrs. Height 310 ft. 95000 board ft.

Big Tree 127 Ft Hgt 47 Ft Cir 17 1/2 Ft Dia Over 3500 Yrs. - Seminole County Park, Florida

California Redwoods

Drive through the Redwood Shrine tree at Myers, Redwood Highway

Drive Thru Tree at Underwood Park on Redwood Highway

Fraternal Monarch "Quadruped Tree," Cir. 92 ft, Lilley Redwook Park

Galen Clark at the Haverford Tree

General Pershing Tree, Big Tree Park

Hollow Redwood Tree, Muir Woods Nat'l. Monument, Calif.

Logging

Oregon's Largest Fir Tree

Parte del tronco del Arbol Del Tule. Sta. Maria Del Tule Oax. Mexico

Portrait of two men and a redwood tree

Undercut of a 12 ft Washington Douglas Fir Tree

The "Chandelier Tree" at Underwood Park on Redwood Highway

The "Octopus Tree," Redwood Highway. (a spruce over a redwood)

The Boy Scout Tree Near Crescent City, Cal. Diameter 32 Feet

The Del Norte Wonder Stump of eternal redwood - The 1500 years old log laid upon the ground 3500 years while being overgrown by the "tree" stump, combining 5000 years of growth. Near Crescent City, Calif.