Giant sequoias are incredibly large, rugged and beloved trees protected in a series of parks along the Sierra Nevada in California — the only place on earth where they are native.

They have been defended since the early 20th century when their rarity and magnitude was recognized by groups of environmentalists, and now draw worldwide attention for their size and beauty.

Their hardiness enables them to adapt to places where they are not native. One such place is near downtown Mystic, where Kathleen Yates’ giant sequoia stands taller than her home. It was brought to Mystic by a naval captain, her father, and is now tall enough to peer across the river into the Mystic Seaport.

New England was no problem for the seedling, she explained. It’s thriving here.

She and her husband have looked afer the sequoia since her father passed away in 2009. Her father, Captain William K. Yates, planted the tree in 1970.

Captain Yates grew up in California and enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor when he was 19. They moved around quite a bit as a family, spending some time in Charleston, S.C., where Yates commanded the USS John Adams submarine before moving to Mystic in 1968 and assuming command of the submarine school in Groton.

“We had been peripatetic as a family ever since my father joined the Navy, until we moved to Connecticut, and there, my dad decided to settle down,” Kathleen explained.

In Groton, Yates commanded the school for three years, overseeing and updating the curriculum. Kathleen recalls how much he loved the Navy and that he was particularly excited to train the elite personnel who were selected for submarine service. She also recalls how much he loved Mystic.

Shortly after relocating, he took his family on a vacation across the country to his home state. They visited Sequoia National Park to wander among the giants, gawking at the size and strength of the trees, and before they left, Yates purchased a tiny, 6-inch-tall sequoia seedling.

“I think he brought it to Connecticut because it was a little piece of his original home state,” Kathleen said, although she described Mystic as more of a permanent home for her father.

Her father transferred the seedling into a coffee can, and nestled it into their collapsible trailer for the 2,700-mile journey back.

“We made a point each day of stopping someplace where the tree could get air and sunlight for at least two hours,” she said.

The early, careful attention on the trip home gave the tree a sturdy foundation. It is now roughly 35 feet tall, healthy and a vibrant, flashy green — and all at the young age of 49.

And it’s growing fast. It is only about 1 to 2 years old in relation to a giant sequoia’s lifespan, with the oldest sequoia still living now around 3,500 years old and the tallest sequoia measuring 275 feet tall.

What this means is that eventually Mystic could have a skyscraper.

For Kathleen, the tree is a memory of her father, and for her father, the tree was a memory of his home state. The tree now enjoys its perch looking over the Mystic River into the Seaport, a little piece of its own maritime history.

It also represents the place where Captain Yates felt the most rooted, in Mystic, where he spent the majority of his life.