We're sharing the history and legend behind the beautiful Dogwood tree on the HHHistory blog! Since Easter is coming up, I thought I’d share a beautiful legend that always comes to my mind this time of year. The legend behind the dogwood trees. Some of ya’ll may have heard it, but perhaps you don’t know some of the other history behind the tree. Down South, the Dogwood Trees are a symbol of Spring. There are festivals every year that celebrate Spring and the blooming of the dogwood tree. In fact, three states have honored the tree with state plant status. The dogwood is the state tree of Missouri, the state flower of North Carolina, and Virginia loved it so much that it is actually their state flower AND state tree. In the mid 1500’s, the trees were known in Europe as the dagwood, because the small stems were used for dags, daggers, arrows or skewers. Later, around 1615, the name was changed to dogwood. No one knows for sure why the name changed from dagwood to dog