Friendship Oak

[intheflow]

This tree is on the grounds of the University of Southern Mississippi in Gulfport. USM is seaside, and took a direct hit from Katrina. The buildings and grounds were ripped and smashed to bits, but this tree survived. In fact, this tree has survived every hurricane since it first rose from its acorn--in the 1480's.



These live oaks are truly amazing, resilient, and majestic. My arborist friends just got a contract from the State of Mississippi to do some preservation on the Friendship Oak (see them in the tree?), so hopefully it'll be around for another few centuries--even with global warming and ever-stronger hurricanes.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. I loved those trees.

They have so much character.

[Cobalt Violet]

2. That's beautiful.

We don't have trees like that up here. :wow:

[intheflow]

3. I know!

I'm from Massachusetts, originally. I always loved children's books with illustrated trees like this one, thought they were figments of the illustrator's imagination. For example, this illustrator, Ruth Sanderson, is from my home town of Monson, MA:



Obviously that tree could only be imaginary! Or that's what I thought, until I came down to live among the live oaks.

[jhain]

4. they are amazing

we do not have them here- south jersey- either. There some wonderful specimans out on Cape Hatterras.....but, your photo is amazing....

[Eurobabe]

5. That's amazing, what a tree!

I'm a tree hugger, admittedly.

[WePurrsevere]

6. Wow... that's a beautiful big old oak... we don't grow them like that up here.

Can you imagine all the history that tree has seen and the stories it would tell if we could hear it talk? Hopefully it will e around for a few more centuries. :)

btw - Why is it called the Friendship Oak?

[intheflow]

8. Why is it called the Friendship Oak?

Here's the (a)corny historic site sign that was recovered and replaced near the tree, describing why it's called the Friendship Oak. You can see the remains of the platform in my OP photo.

[priller]

7. We have a lot of live oaks here in central Texas, too

And some are very old and sprawling like that. In Austin, we have a tree called "Treaty Oak", where Stephen F. Austin signed the first boundary treaty with the Commanches and Tonkowas. Back in 1989 it was deliberately poisoned by some deranged person. He used a hardwood herbicide called Velpar. Scientists said it was enough to kill 100 trees. Once it became apparent what happened, the whole city worked hard to save it, people placed "get well" cards all around it, Ross Perot gave a "blank check" to cover the costs, DuPont (who makes the herbicide) offered a $10,000 reward to catch the person who did it (and they did catch him, sentenced to 9 years). They managed to save about 35% of the original tree.

Oddly enough, I couldn't find a good picture of it online. This one will have to do:



A few years back the tree put out acorns for the first time since it was poisoned. All the acorns were gathered up and germinated and planted around the city. So now we have all these "juniors" sprouting up.

[intheflow]

9. Someone poisoned it?!

:crazy: I glad they caught and locked that asshat up.