Mission Statement

Founded in 1969, Eagle’s Nest is an exclusive, private country club featuring an outstanding scenic location with sweeping views of Loch Raven reservoir. Eagle’s Nest offers first-class facilities that serve the golf, tennis, swimming and social preferences of its Members and their families in a friendly, inviting atmosphere. Eagle’s Nest, a treasure built over time – Where You Belong.

The Significance of Our Dawn Redwood Trees

Dawn Redwoods are among the many things that make Eagle’s Nest Country Club unique. Eagle’s Nest is home to about 75 Dawn Redwoods, technically known as metasequoia, one of the largest single collections outside of China. 

Dawn Redwoods were once prevalent throughout the Northern Hemisphere but were thought to have become extinct. Then in 1941, a Chinese forester in the Sichuan province discovered more than 1,000 trees that had somehow survived. How this happened in an area that is not an ideal environment for the trees remains a mystery, but it’s likely that the trees at Eagle’s Nest are very close descendants of those discovered in China.

How did Eagle’s Nest, which is pretty far from China, wind up with so many of these magnificent trees? Jimmy Watson, our first club president, knows the whole story because the trees were planted by his brother Bobby: “A nursery in York, PA wanted to clear an area so they said to Bobby, ‘Take ‘em all … $1.00 apiece.’ They were the size of a broom handle. My brother and Roy Albin planted all the trees after work.”

Besides being somewhat rare, the Dawn Redwood is unique in itself, as it’s the only deciduous sequoia; that is, the only one that loses its needles like most trees with leaves. And the trees are regenerative, meaning they’ll grow back if cut down. Some homeowners have mistakenly assumed that their trees had died when the needles dropped and had them cut down, only to find new leaders growing from the trunk in the spring.

Although they’re approaching a half-century old, the Dawn Sequoias were not the first trees planted at Eagle’s Nest. That honor goes to the pine tree on the left-hand side of the 5th hole at the bend, planted on April 4, 1970.