I don't know if this tree would be a record or not. They have such a formula for determining what is a record or a 'Champion' tree, but I bet it would be in the books somewhere. The biggest problem with it being a designated 'Something' Live Oak, is that it is on private land, and not accessible to the general public.
This tree belongs to a very nice man named Callaway. I had talked to him a few months ago about looking at the tree, but for some reason, we just never did meet.
Last week, I called him again to ask if we could look at the tree. He happily agreed that we could see it, and we made arrangements to meet him on Thursday morning. This time, we did meet.
This is the Oak Tree.
If you look closely, you can see Callaway walking over by the fallen limb, to the middle right of the picture.
From this angle, you can see where the limb broke from the trunk. That limb is 3' in diameter. It is just huge. We don't know why it broke; no insect damage, disease, no rot.....it seems that it just got tired of hanging off the trunk, and it let go.
Again, this is Callaway walking around the tree. Callaway is not a small man, about 6' tall.
This is our County Extension Agent with Callaway. He took a cazillion pictures too. I resisted having my picture taken under this tree.There are several other noteworthy trees on this parcel of land. I took pictures of them also, and will post them in the future.
This tree is 50' tall, the trunk is over 25' around. I don't know what the shade would measure, but I would like to measure that one day.
I didn't know until I got to looking into big Oak trees that the Live Oak is the State tree of Georgia! There is so much that I need to learn!
I don't know how to explain what a pleasure it was to visit this site. This tree has such stature and grandure, you just know it is God's work. Why he chose to give this tree a lifespan of 800-1000 years we will never know, but I am glad he did.
7 comments:
I think you answered your own question. Only god could create something this magnificent and perhaps he has allowed it to live on and continue growing just as a reminder.
It's very humbling. Thanks for sharing the pictures of it.
It being the State Tree and all, there are lots of live oaks around here.
They say that a live oak is 100 years growing, 100 years living and 100 years dying. When big limbs start to fall, the end may be near. Every now and then one of the sacred historic trees in town falls on a neighbor's house.
We had one that looked perfectly fine. One sunny April day I came home from work and it was lying on the right of way, fallen just perfectly so that the county had to cut it up and chip the smaller limbs. It was totally hollow inside, but that didn't show. It broke off 10-12 feet up, so the hollow stump is now covered in confederate jasmine. Wonder what lives in there?
Living in an area that boasts large trees, like Jean I have seen them fall over like a toothpick.
Cool pics !
Yes, we see them go first in a hurricane. The Oak trees, I mean. I think it is because they have a very shallow root system.
The Pecan tree never blows over- Well, very seldom, at least. They have such a tap root that they are permanently anchored into the earth.
Home for me as a child was the flat, treeless area of the Texas Coast close to where I live now. The best trees in town were a small mot of Live oaks that were about house high. They belonged to our neighbors, and we envied them for their trees. When, in the '60's, the Chinese Tallow tree came into vogue here, we were thrilled. We, too, could have trees. The tallow will grow anywhere, even in our shallow water table. We could dig a foot and hit water.
Perhaps that is where my love and awe of trees grew. I was tree challenged for much of my life. LOL
Pecan trees are among the toughest there is. Lightning can strike a pecan tree with a bolt that would kill a lesser plant, and the pecan will just adapt. I have one with a huge cavity on one side, where the woodpeckers play. There's another that the whole top died; somebody in a bucket truck cut the top off before it fell and, left to its own devices, the trunk grew new limbs and is still bearing pecans. It was hollow to the ground, squirrels raised families in it before it rejuvenated itself. Once in a while, a big limb will just fall off a pecan, too. Cra-ack! Thud!
Yes, they do! The pecan trees, I mean!
We had a very large pecan tree growing 6' off to the side of the drive way, at another house. I heard that Cra-ack! Thud! noise, and half the tree had fallen. It missed the house by about 4 inches!
I think pecans lose limbs most when they go through periods of stress, as from drought. We have noticed it in the pecan orchard.
That is a lovely tree! If it could talk it could tell us lots of Texas history.
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