The Angel Oak

Reading about one of my favorite subjects (South Carolina) on a blog today, I came across this photo and felt the need to share it.

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The tree is South Carolina's "Angel Oak", a southern live oak and probably the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi. There is another live oak in Mandeville, Louisiana, that is about the same age called "The Seven Sisters" so I use the term "probably" when referring to the Angel Oak's status.

The Angel Oak is somewhere north of 1,400 years old. About the time the Angel Oak sprang up, the Eastern US was in a period archeologist refer to as the "Late Eastern Woodland Culture" - think primitive. In Central America, the Maya were firmly in control. In the Euro-Asian land mass, the Byzantine Empire is in control of the Balkans and the Goths have routed Rome. The Liang Dynasty is coming to power in China and Buddhism has migrated from Korea to Japan.

The Angel Oak survived hurricanes, nomadic American Indian migrations, the first European settlers, the growth of colonies in the "New World", the Revolutionary War, the ship building of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Civil War and finally, the growth of South Carolina's coastal communities on John's Island.

There is some rather significant argument going on today about the future of the Angel Oak's environs. Slowly, Johns Island has encroached on what was once a very wild place. A developer has proposed a "village" that would surround the oak on three sides (the fourth side, across Angel Oak Road, is a private farm). A respected biologist, Jean Everett, PhD a professor in the College of Charleston's Department of Biology, has studied the plans and the tree and believes that the proposed "village" will ultimately lead to the untimely death of the tree though in all honesty she couldn't say when.

I'm not an enviro-wacko by any stretch. I am a Scout Master, I camp, hunt, fish and occasionally just go on "walk about". I can think of nothing more enjoyable than an afternoon spent in a truly wild place afoot or afloat. I don't really see the need for another "village" in Johns Island but I don't live there, I live 150 miles north west in Columbia. I have visited the tree a couple of times; it is remarkable to say the least. The canopy covers about 17,000 square feet - that's bigger than most yards in most neighborhoods at almost half an acre. Even on a hot day, the air is cool under the canopy.

The tree and land are owned by the City of Charleston, Charleston’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability has approved the developer's plans which include a protective buffer around the site so really, if anything is to be done, it is kind of up to "us” - maybe this is one tree we ought to leave alone.

If you’d like to visit or get involved, here are a couple of links to help you out:

Save the Angel Oak web site

The Tree's Web Site

Googled Map