5.4 cbh X 100.8 foot tall common persimmon near Gatlinburg.

"Continuing our quest for "little giants" we returned to the Twin Creeks area
on Grassy Branch Trail near Gatlinburg to measure a few trees I had spotted
in the mid-1990's. One was a  gorgeous, jet-black common persimmon with an
impressive 5'5" girth. The height turned out to be 100.8 feet which is a new
"100 Footer Club" addition for the park, and a GRSM big tree point champion
at ~174 points. <link>"

• Big Persimmon Listings:  http://www.persimmonpudding.com/nathist/bigpersimmons.html

• Persimmonpudding.com: dedicated to growing, education, and use of Diospyros virginiana L., the common, or American persimmon http://www.persimmonpudding.com  
  
  Barry Nichols writes:  "I've been cobbling together a native botanical food heritage/history/etc website on our native persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) called http://www.persimmonpudding.com  . 'm a biologist and while I'm interested in native plants, I've been wholly captivated by persimmons since I was a kid. I use the tree heavily in habitat restorations and mitigation efforts. I also use others, but in my experience, restoration plans usually incorporate a lot of trees that would seed themselves quicly, or include robo-trees which will grow quickly, but provide little in the way of complexity. It is often the deep-rooted trees which are overlooked due to the need for careful handling and planting. Another aspect to the site is food heritage. It pains me greatly to hear from folks who tell me about the importance of persimmons and their family's uses, holidays, etc...just to have the end of their account be something akin to, "When Grandma Betty died, the family recipies were lost forever". Pure tragedy. Thus, while I research the history and herbal uses, I am also desparately trying to reach out to families today to get their stories, recipes, etc.