Visit to S. Carolina included the angel oak on John's Island

Burnham

Burnham

Woods walker
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Mar 7, 2005
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Just an awesome specimen of live oak, guestimated age 1300-1500 years, quercus virginii if I'm not badly mistaken. Here are a few pics, but it's hard to capture the scale, let me assure you. I know y'all will enjoy a looksee, nonetheless.
 

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What a fantastic tree.
Reminds me of the canyon live oak, I climbed with Stephen.
 
How far off the ground are the lowest branches?:D

I would guess Quercus virginiana, canyon live oak. Maybe I should go look up virginii just in case
 
We have em here too, they like the dry hillsides. Theres one dandy just up the road from me. Make a branch on your tree!
 
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Well, they sure don't call 'em canyon live oak in the South Carolina lowcountry...no canyons :D.
 
Never been East of Indiana myself but I did look at S.C. on google earth the other day, it is appallingly flat!
 
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Fly Google Earth up to the far western end of the state, Willie. Not flat there.
 
Wonder what the story is of that tree, how it was able to survive. At what point did it get recognized as more valuable to remain standing?
 
It's an awesome specimen, but I'm afraid there's a rather major error in one of their claims.
Reportedly the oldest thing -- living or man-made -- east of the Rockies, Angel Oak is a live oak tree aged approximately 1,500 years.
Click to expand...

Right here in Seminole County there is a cypress tree called 'The Senator' which has been estimated at 3500 years old. Even if they're off by a thousand years, it's still quite a bit older than the Angel Oak.

Here's a list of the oldest trees in the world. Both the Angel Oak and the Senator are listed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees
 
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I had the same thought as I skimmed that site, Brian. Hyperbole is a seller, ain't it :).
 
What a tree. A record of time. Whether the stats are fact or embilished it speaks for itself. I've seen many pictures of the tree on the internet.

On a similar note Butch took me to see a big live oak on my visit to see him a few yarn ago. Gate was closed and owners not home. So the trip to see the tree flopped, but I could see it a few hundred yards down the road and its canopy went to the ground. Big area. Hopefully next time I can get right up close to it.
 
Here's a shot of that tree, from my private satellite. :)

You can tell it's a big sucker!
 

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