Angel Oak Tree-photo essay

Being the Christmas season, this seemed like a good time to introduce you all to a very special and amazing tree.  It's not a Christmas tree with an angel on top, but it's a tree, with it's wide spread branches, appears to be an ‘angel', itself.  .  It is called, "The Angel Oak Tree".

My family and I had the privilege of seeing it this past summer, while visiting friends in South Carolina.  This tree is the most beautiful tree I have ever seen.  It literally brought tears to my eyes while walking under/around and all through its massive branches, as I tried to imagine the history it has witnessed and the different things it has endured.  From a distance, one might think they are looking at cluster small trees, but what they are actually looking at is the entire tree.  These photos do not give it justice.  One needs actually to walk underneath its branches and around it, to get a real feel of how big and amazing this tree is.

Let me tell you a little of it.

The Angel Oak Tree is actually a Southern Live Oak tree (Quercus virginiana) , which is native to the southern United States.  Live Oak trees are protected in South Carolina.  I'm not sure whether they are in other states, though.

The tree is estimated at being as old as 1500 years old and may be the oldest living tree east of the Mississippi.  That means, it first sprouted about 507 A.D.  It stands 65 feet tall.  While that may not seem like a very tall tree, its crown covers an area of 17,000 square feet.  Its largest limb is 89 feet long and 11 feet thick.  The circumference of the trunk is 25 feet.  As with all trees, the Angel Oak  weakens with age.  With the branches being so large, if they were to lie on the ground, they would rot and the tree would surely die.  The tree depends on various supports and cables to prevent the branches from touching the ground. 

The "Angel Oak Tree" has stood the test of time.  It has witnessed the beginnings of this country.  All the way from the first explorers and settlers to the atrocities, that occurred during the days of slavery.  It has endured many battles during the Civil War.  It has endured centuries of harsh coastal weather such as heavy rains and even hurricanes and disease.  Today, it continues to be  under constant attack from the parasitic Spanish Moss, which the caretakers work diligently  to keep raked  off it's branches.  It stands there, in a small plot of land called "Angel Oak Park" in John's Island, South Carolina.  Just outside Charleston.