10/19/2026
𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐲 (𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧)
Robert Goddard, the Father of the Space Age, celebrated each and every October 19 as his “Anniversary Day”—the day he experienced a vision of space exploration, that became his life’s purpose.
In 1899, at age 17, Goddard had recently read H. G. Wells’s 1897 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. He later recalled the moment that changed his life:
“𝑂𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 19, 1899, 𝐼 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑡, 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑏𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒. … 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡, 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 … 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡, 𝐼 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑠."
"𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒.”
When the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 destroyed the tree, Goddard recorded his loss in his diary: “Cherry tree down. Have to carry on alone.”
To commemorate the inspiration and vision he experienced in that tree, students from the Worcester Public Schools Goddard Scholars Program helped plant a new cherry tree at the newly restored Robert and Esther Goddard House in Worcester Massachusetts.
Charlie Grinker, the Emmy Award–winning producer of the Goddard documentary "Moon Man from Massachusetts," retells this defining moment in Goddard’s life.
Watch Charlie Grinker’s recollection: https://tinyurl.com/32f3yf9p
Folksinger Ron Carlson has also written a beautiful new song celebrating Goddard’s cherry tree inspiration. Listen to Ron Carlson’s song: https://tinyurl.com/4k29a78n
