Wye Mills, Md. ? Thousands of solemn pilgrims visited the fallen Wye Oak Friday, taking pictures, gathering mementos and paying their final respects to Maryland’s beloved state tree.

The visitors came to the village of Wye Mills in Talbot County by scores throughout the day, gathering quietly behind yellow police tape put up Thursday night, when the 460-year-old white oak succumbed to strong winds and snapped near its base.

The 200-ton, 96-foot tree lay on its side like a toppled monument.

“I’m sorry to see that it’s down, but that’s the way it is, isn’t it?” said David Burton of Delaware.

Thursday night’s storm finished off the ailing oak, which began its life around the time the first European colonists settled in the region. Centuries later, the area around the tree hasn’t actually changed that much.

The tree, though, had grown to be acclaimed as the biggest white oak in the country.

The tree’s collapse revealed a largely hollow trunk that had rotted away so much that four people could sit down inside. Visitors could see the whitish fungus that grew on its insides for years, eating its heart away. The keepers of the tree knew it, rigging the oak with some five miles of cables designed to support its weight.

The Wye Oak has a vast number of offspring at least two in every state. When the tree became erratic in its production of acorns, the Department of Natural Resources started selling seedlings.